


You keep my head from going under

by Birooksun



Series: Where do we go from here? [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, F/M, Found Family, Human Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kamski Test (Detroit: Become Human), Minor Character Death, Original Character-centric, Pacifist Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 00:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16252862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birooksun/pseuds/Birooksun
Summary: Only a handful of people even knew Elijah Kamski had a daughter, himself, his half brother Gavin, the mother who kept his daughter from him, the Chloes, and one he didn't know. Ralph, a deviated android hiding away from humans and best friend of his daughter Diana Winters.





	You keep my head from going under

Ralph turned at the sound of wood creaking. Someone was entering the house again. Ralph hid under the stairs, wondering if this human would hide out for the night or try to hurt him like others had. He kept the door open a crack as he peeked through the crack to see a small woman stumbling in, she wasn’t very visible in the dark, just a small frame hidden in a large long coat.

 

She was sniffling and muttering to herself, he tilted his head as he watched her.  “Stupid, stupid. Why did you run? Should have stayed, should have died at birth. Who the fuck am I kidding?” He watched her sit against the fireplace, glancing down at the wood there but making no motion to light it. That was different. Humans always did the same things, well the humans he had met always had. This human, she pulled her knees up to her chest and cried. She cried until she was coughing very hard and wet, finally pulling a cloth out of her coat and coughing into that before blowing her nose.

 

“Useless, don’t even know what to do.” He wondered why she was talking to herself, Ralph didn’t think humans spoke to themselves. “Should just die and leave my body here to lower property values even more. Let Mother be right about something.” She gave a sigh and blew her nose again. “I deserved to be hit. I shouldn’t have run away.”

 

Ralph waited until she was very still, grabbing his knife he climbed out of the small room and walked over towards her. He towered over the small woman, but she didn’t move from where she was curled up. Ralph then knelt down next to them, peering to see their face. He twitched and stumbled back, it wasn’t a woman, it was a teenager. Younger than the ones that hurt him, but he remembered. He knew. Teenagers hurt Ralph, humans hurt Ralph and now this human is sleeping in his house! He raised up his knife, Ralph felt so angry as he looked at the human. 

 

She lifted her head and looked at him. She didn’t scream, didn’t flinch at all, just looked at him with a shiny face and tears still flowing. “Can you make it quick?” Ralph paused, lowering the knife slightly as the girl searched his face in the darkness. Part of him wondered how much she could even see.

 

“Humans hurt Ralph. Ralph hates humans.”

 

“Yeah, humans suck and hurt everything. Including their own children.” Ralph looked at her in confusion, stepping closer to get a good look at the human. She didn’t flinch away, just shrugged out of her large coat instead. He tilted his head as she raised a shaky arm for him to grab. She was hurt. This human had been burned, small circles peppered their arm. Ralph leaned closer, looking at their face. The human had a very pointy face but he could see some swelling and a cut in the middle of a bruise on her cheek. “Yeah, Mother forgot to take off her ring this time.” The human shook her head and Ralph wanted to reach out to her as tears fell down her pale cheeks again. “Sorry. I shouldn’t unload on you. Shouldn’t have came into your house, but can I just spend one night? I just need to get away from her one night.” 

 

Ralph sat back, placing his knife across his legs incase the human tried anything. “There are beds upstairs. Ralph thinks it might be better for the human to sleep there.” She nodded and pulled the large coat back over her. “Ralph is Ralph. Who?” He paused, looking at her as she finished pulling the coat on. It seemed to swallow her whole, he twitched and suppressed a giggle at the thought. “Who are you?”

 

“Diana, it’s nice to meet you Ralph.” She stood up, much smaller than Ralph, and motioned for him to follow. 

 

He jumped a little after standing up and clapped his hands, “Diana can be friends with Ralph! Or family! Little girl and a father?” 

 

She shook her head a little, “I have a family. Father, Mother, and Uncle. I’ve never met my dad, know of him but-. I was a mistake you know?” Ralph tilted his head and looked back at the human girl following him.

 

“No. Ralph doesn’t know. Come, come.” He turned and pulled her up the stairs and to one of the rooms, he peeked inside and shook his head, moving to another one. “This one, little girl can use this one.” He walked over to the bed, not noticing the girl, Diana, pause at the doorway. “Humans don’t like dirt. Must shake out dirt.” He lifted up the blanket a few times, giving it a shake and brushed off trash that had been under it. “There! Good for the little human, right?” 

 

Ralph turned and watched the girl stand in the doorway, she stared at the bed for a moment before snapping her head up to look at him. “Thank you.” Ralph nodded and walked past her out of the room, looking back to see the girl close the door. 

 

It was the next morning Ralph heard creaking upstairs and paused in his carving of the walls. He knew it was the small human, so he just resumed the carving. A minute later he heard the kitchen door open and turned to see the human. “Diana looks a bit better.” He found himself saying as he looked her over, some of the swelling had gone down and now she just had a purple bruise and open cut on her cheek. He was rewarded with a small smile that made him feel giddy. “Is Diana leaving Ralph?”

 

“Yeah.” He watched her cross her arms and rub them, was she cold even with the jacket? “I should go find my uncle. I think he’s at work about now.” 

 

“Will that human help Diana?”

 

She gave a nod and stepped into the kitchen, walking up to Ralph. “Yeah, Uncle Gavin’s been helping me where he can. My Mother doesn’t know we’re in touch though, so it can’t be very often.” Ralph nodded and turned back to the wall. He froze when a small pair of arms wrapped around his waist. “Thank you Ralph.”

 

“Ralph wants the little girl to be safe.”

 

The human gave a laugh that Ralph could feel in his chest before letting go of him and backing away. “15 isn’t quite a little girl.” She paused and Ralph turned back to her, wondering what the human was going to do next. “I should go. Thanks for letting me spend the night Ralph.” He nodded and watched her walk out of the house before returning to his carving. 

 

He didn’t know how much time passed before she came into his house again. His days and nights blended together unless something changed. According to the human it had only been a month, she was still small and pointy faced. He looked at the human, curled up against the wall, still in a too big coat as he carved in the wall. He had offered her the bed again, but she wanted company. He didn’t mind this human, something in him wanted to protect her. She helped hold off his loneliness. He turned and saw the sun start to rise. Ralph knew it would then be a few hours longer before the human came out of her own standby mode. He sat down next to her, debating if he should go into his own standby mode or just enjoy the silence next to her.

 

The sun was much higher in the sky, brightening up the kitchen when he felt the human shift next to him. “Human is awake?” She gave a nod and brought a hand up to rub her eyes. Ralph tilted his head down, noticing this human had the same eye color as him. “Did Diana’s mother hurt her again?”

 

Diana shrugged and pushed her hair out of face, brushing through it with her fingers. She looked up at him when he started to twitch. “She drank a little too much again. There was a complaint at work and she took it out on me.” Ralph frowned at seeing a bruise on her wrist. “It wasn’t as bad as last time. I snuck out the window, but it’ll be fine. After the holidays I start college.” Diana rubbed her wrist and curled up against Ralphs side. “I think Uncle Gavin spoke to my dad. He sent me a video message, telling me he paid for my college, signed off for me to get my GED instead, and now I have a bank account. My mom doesn’t have any access to it.” She gave a shrug and looked at the ground, brushing some shavings into a pile. “It was weird seeing my dad, even if it was just a message. He- I think I know why my mom hates me so much now. We look a lot alike, couldn’t see his eyes though.”

 

“Ralph thought college was for older humans.” He twitched, thinking of the humans who attacked him before he ran away. His hand lifted up to his cheek, brushing over the scarring before curling it into a fist and hitting the wall next to him. “Ralph doesn’t want you to become like those other humans!” 

 

“Ralph! I won’t be like those humans that hurt you. I promise.” She grabbed one of his hands and looked up at him.

 

“Ralph is sorry. Ralph got angry, Ralph can’t control himself when he gets angry.”

 

“It’s okay Ralph. You haven’t hurt me. You’re my-” She paused and let go of his hand. “You’re my friend?” She stood up and walked around, extending a hand to help Ralph up. He tilted his head at her before twitching again. It didn’t make sense, he was easily larger than her, but he placed his hand in hers and stood over her. “Is it alright if I still visit you? I may be able to partially escape my mother, but since I’m underage I can’t exactly run off to a hotel or something when it gets too much.”

 

Ralph nodded and watched her walk out of the kitchen. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the human visited often. Sometimes she had bruises on her, but more often it seemed she had escaped the apartment before her mother turned on her. Ralph remembered a day where she came in when the sun was high in the sky, her shirt was covered in blood from her face and her nose was bent oddly. Ralph didn’t like the squeak of pain she gave when he tried to help her. He didn’t like his human being hurt. She was able to mostly get it back in place after a few false starts. She wouldn’t tell him why her mother hurt her, instead she would tell Ralph about her classes and being the only 15 year old fully enrolled, one day she came in with several bottles of Thirium and a small box with a cake in it. He wasn’t sure what day it was, just that the plants had come back to life and some were withering in the heat already. 

 

“I’m 16 now Ralph! I’ve brought cake for myself and some Thirium for you.” She placed the bottles down on the small makeshift table in front of the fireplace. “I realized that I have no idea how you’re getting your Thirium.”

 

“Ralph doesn’t use that much energy. Ralph sometimes finds a safeplace and goes into standby mode. Like you do here.” She gave a small smile and nodded at him. 

 

“Well, here’s something to help you.” She twitched her hands slightly before pulling them back to her chest and spoke to herself. “Two more years, two more years until I’m of legal age to get my own place. Before I can run away from her for good.” Ralph twitched, he felt angry that the little girl had to run away. He hated the human who hurt her. They drank and ate in silence, both wrapped up in their thoughts before he stood up and walked back to the kitchen. She followed him with her backpack, sitting down next to him and pulling out a textbook and a notebook. He paused and glanced back at her, sitting near him and reading, occasionally stopping to write something down. She heard the silence, that he had stopped his carving and turned towards him with a smile. “Studies. I’ve got finals coming up next week.” 

 

Ralph watched as the little girl started to look more and more like an adult human. She spent longer periods of time there, apparently she was also in summer school and would shower at the gym after staying the night. On nights other humans squatted they hid out of the way. He showed her other places they could hide aside from under the stairs. She had screamed in fear and he had to silence her the first time they went into the crawlspace. He had forgotten about the body there. She did calm down after a moment and he was able to release her. Ralph didn’t feel comfortable holding her so close. 

 

She had apologized and they moved further in, away from the entrance and after that he didn’t take her to the crawlspace again. She didn’t seem unnerved that he had killed a human, but that he hadn’t moved it away. Ralph had never worried about humans finding the body, she did though and came back the next day with a shovel. Ralph sat on the porch and watched her dig a deep hole in the ground. It was several hours before she felt it was deep enough to drag the body out from the crawlspace and toss it in the hole. 

 

“The human tried to hurt Ralph.”

 

“I know, but we can’t leave it lying around Ralph. Someone might find it and call the police. Then they’ll find you.” It looked almost comical how she could barely move the body, how her large gloves kept slipping as she dragged it.

 

“Ralph does want to stay safe.”

 

“I want you to stay safe too. That’s why I’m burying this.” She huffed and started to toss the dirt back onto the body. It took her another hour to bury it completely. She ended up smoothing the dirt over with a shovel and heaving a sigh when she finished. “Fuck it I’m tossing the shovel under the porch.” 

 

“Okay.” He watched her toss the shovel, quite literally under the porch with a huff before brushing her sweaty hands off on her jeans after tossing her gloves with the shovel. He wasn’t sure when it was, but it was dark enough she needed a hand into the house. 

 

The next morning he watched her leave the house, he wondered if the human she always called ‘Uncle Gavin’ had been able to help her. He decided to remember to ask her the next time she came by. Ralph had forgotten until she mentioned seeing her Uncle on the news getting interviewed by her mother and wondering if he wanted to punch the woman the whole time during the interview.

 

“Has Uncle Gavin helped you friend?” He twitched and curled up his fist at her visible wince.

 

“She threatened his job and well, Uncle Gavin has ambitions. He’s done enough already! I mean, I wouldn’t have been able to even see my dad if not for him. He’s just so isolated that well, no one has heard from him in years.” She raised a hand up to a scar on her cheek, Ralph always felt angry seeing that scar. He hated that she stayed with a human that hurt her like that. “Uncle Gavin also thinks it’s because dad couldn’t handle being around people anymore. Says it’s hard to trust others after someone hurts you so much.” 

 

“Ralph trusts you.” He lifted an arm and felt content when she curled up against him. “I- I trust Diana.”

 

“That’s because we’re family Ralph.”

 

“Your family hurt you.”

 

“That bitch is blood, not family.” He looked down at her dark hair, she was shaking her head while speaking. “I think she’s not fit to live. She hurts me, she hurt my dad, she doesn’t even notice how often I’m gone. I just have a year and a half to suffer through her left. Then I can track down my dad. I could get my own place or move on campus or maybe even move in with Uncle Gavin. He knows where my dad lives. I don’t think they visit each other, but he’s gotta be in some contact with his own brother.”

 

Ralph looked out the window, there was rain falling from the sky, “How often are you gone?” 

 

She looked up at him and pulled away, arms going around herself again. “Pretty often, but the neglect is better than when she would hurt me! Sometimes I just stay in the library until we’re all kicked out, then I’ll go to the 24 hour gym and swim until the hall opens up and I can grab breakfast. Sometimes I’ll crash on Uncle Gavin’s couch, or sleep in his patrol car. His coworkers don’t like him, but you gotta be tough.” She brushed some of the hair out of her face as she curled up tighter. “I think it’s been three days this time. I’m not sure.” 

 

Ralph just nodded and resumed looking out the window. “She hurts you. She might kill you.”

 

“I won’t let her. I won’t let anyone take me away from my own future.”

 

“Ralph won’t let her either.” He patted Diana on the hand and started to play with the cargo sheet wrapped around him. 

 

“You and me against the world?” She laughed and leaned her side against his. “I’ll do whatever I can to stay with you Ralph.” He tensed as they heard whispering and people walking around outside. “Ralph?”

 

“Hide. Ralph will deal with the humans.” She nodded and ran under the stairs, grabbing her backpack and shutting the door behind her. Ralph walked around outside and saw them, two humans checking out the house. The taller one walked away, he walked up and scared the smaller one, holding his knife to her. Quickly the first came back and found the two of them. She convinced Ralph she was like him, an android on the run. They just needed a place to stay. He thought of his friend Diana, humans hurt her too. They could become his friends like she did, that thought made him very happy. 

 

He guided them in, letting them know they could make themselves at home. Briefly he wondered over his friend, but decided one night would be fine for her. He was busy, he had to carve to get the thought out of his head. After a little bit the android came into the kitchen to talk to Ralph. They spoke for a moment before he resumed his carving. Diana had questioned it once, but had told him it didn’t matter as long as it helped him. He wondered if it was similar to her snapping of rubber bands. He thought about the little girl, she looked scared of him. 

 

He noticed it was light outside. The little girl probably didn’t get to eat, he had seen Diana eat food before, and thought he should help them. The little girl probably wouldn’t be so scared if she weren’t hungry. He debated checking in on and waking up Diana, but decided she would be fine where she was. Ralph stepped outside and managed to catch and kill a large rat. 

 

Diana woke up from where she curled up on the floor and stretched as much as she could in the small room. She paused in the popping of her back as she heard Ralph speaking to some other people, she cracked open the door and peaked out. 

 

“Father, mother, little girl.” The little girl spoke softly to the woman. Diana opened the door and stepped out, none of them noticing her. “What did she say?”

 

The woman spoke up before the little girl. “She said she can’t wait to eat! She’s very hungry.” The little girl glanced gratefully at the woman, gasping lightly as she caught sight of Diana. “Who are you?” The woman stood up and blocked the girl from Diana’s view. Ralph turned and saw them all. 

 

“Ralph’s friend is awake! Come, he forgot to set a seat for Diana, but we can still be family.” She gave him a soft smile before looking back at the overnight guests.

 

“You’re wearing my clothes.” 

 

The woman looked down and adjusted the coat slightly before nodding to herself. “My other clothes were more recognizable.” 

 

Diana shrugged and looked at the little girl, peeking around to see Ralph kneeling in front of the fireplace. “Ralph, I have some food in my bag still. I think the little girl might like that better.”

 

“But Ralph wanted to eat like the humans do.” She couldn’t see what he had in the fire but doubted it was edible. “Ralph is burning meat! Humans like burnt meat!”

 

She winced at that thought, it was not edible then.“Ralph still has some Thirium, right? Why don’t we all sit down and eat together?” She knelt down and smiled at the girl. The girl glanced back at Ralph and hugged the woman. “I’ve got poptarts, some cereal bars, and let me double check to see if there’s still an apple or I ate that yesterday.” The little girl smiled and sat back down, glancing at the fireplace as Ralph stood up and walked out into the kitchen, rat still hanging from his hand. He came back in and handed a bottle of blue liquid to the woman. Diana’s eyes narrowed as she watched the woman take a sip with a smile. “An android and a child?” She looked at the girl, worn down and looking to the woman with hope. “My name’s Diana. I have some cash if you need it.” 

 

Ralph twitched and looked at her questioningly. The woman smiled and placed an arm around the little girl as Diana turned to go into her backpack. “I’m Kara, this is Alice.” Diana handed an apple and a couple cereal bars to the little girl. She smiled down at the girl as she dug into the apple. “Thank you.” Diana just shrugged her shoulders and pressed some 20’s into Kara’s hands. “Say thank you Alice.”

 

“Thank you.” She looked up at Ralph, slightly scared but giving a small smile. “Both of you.” 

 

“Anybody home?”

 

Ralph looked at the three of them, he stood up and motioned for the two to hide, Diana opened the door and hid the two of them inside. She sat down at the table where Alice had been, the half eaten apple sitting on the plate. Ralph stood in the middle of the room, and crossed his hands in front of him. Diana, quickly pulled the third plate under her current one as the door opened. She followed Ralph’s actions and placed her hands in front of her and tucked her head down, hiding her face with her long dark brown hair. She made sure to keep an eye on the door.

 

An android she had never seen before walked in, he looked over the two of them and started asking Ralph questions as he walked around the room. She had never seen Ralph stand so still and meek, it unnerved her. It angered her that this unknown was risking her best friend. Ralph started twitching slightly when the android got near the stairs, she worried there may be another dead body hidden around. The android asked if there was anyone upstairs, he must have known Ralph was telling the truth because he stepped away from the stairs quickly. The android started to kneel down and look where Kara and Alice were hidden. 

 

“Connor what the hell are you doing in there?!” Diana jumped in panic, she recognized the voice. It was one of her Uncle Gavin’s coworkers.

 

“Coming, Lieutenant!” Connor leaned forward to peer in the door when Ralph lunged and grabbed him, screaming for them to run. He threw the android to the ground once Kara and Alice ran out of the house. 

 

The door burst open and Diana ran after Ralph when she heard the Lieutenant speak. “Connor, what’s going on?”

 

“It’s here! Call it in!” It sounded like footsteps running away and slowly Ralph and Diana came back down the stairs.

 

Diana turned to Ralph and placed her hands to cover her mouth. “What just happened?” 

 

“I don’t know.” Ralph grabbed her hands and pulled her back up the stairs, they stopped at one of the bedrooms and looked out the broken window to see Kara running away with Alice. Diana shut and locked the door behind them walking back next to Ralph. A few moments later the android Connor followed Kara and Alice, and then the Lieutenant after them. “Ralph hopes the little girl will stay safe from the humans.” 

 

Diana squeezed his hand and leaned in. “Yeah. I hope so too.” She paused and swore quietly, Ralph turned towards her and she just gave a small smile. “The neighborhood’s probably crawling with cops. How long do you think it’ll be until they are back to check out this place?” 

 

“We’re a family though.” He knew this wouldn’t end well.

 

“Nothing will keep us apart?” She knew it was a lie, she wanted so badly for it to be true, but nothing good would come from this. A locked door wouldn’t give them enough time to run away. Where would Ralph even go?

 

“Ralph will keep you safe from the humans.”

 

“I’ll keep you safe too Ralph.” She turned to hug him, holding her best friend close as they heard to door slam open. She noticed his back was out to the open window as she heard yelling and several sets of feet run up the stairs. “Ralph, they’ll kill you.” She could feel her throat becoming tight as she cried. 

 

“I made a promise.” 

 

“Promise me you’ll live.” She lifted her head up and kept her eyes trained on his face. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips before flinching down as the door was kicked. “They’ll kill you because they don’t think you’re alive. I know you’re alive Ralph!” She glanced back as the door was kicked again.

 

“Open up! We know you’re in there! Come out with your hands up!” 

 

“Please Ralph. Trust me and find somewhere safe. I’ll find you. Trust me. I love you too much to let you die.” She stepped back, looking out the window and up at his face.

 

“Ralph will keep you safe.” He gripped her arms almost painfully as the door rattled again.

 

“You can’t do that if you’re dead! I’ll find you somehow! Trust me!” She felt terror grip her as the door cracked from another kick.

 

“Let me.” She froze as she recognized the voice. 

 

Diana stepped back, out of Ralphs grasp and shook her head. “I love you Ralph. You’re my best friend, okay?”

 

“Diana is Ralph’s best friend too.” He gave her a kiss on the head and stepped back to the window. 

 

She heard the door break open and shoved Ralph back through the window. “Find safety!” The look of surprise as he fell tore at her heart. She felt a pair of hands grab her roughly before turning her around and away from the window. Diana gave a small scream as she was thrown to the ground. She heard the officer who grabbed her curse and she looked up. Right into a pair of angry gray eyes. “Hi Uncle Gavin.” 

 

“You helped a tin can escape.” He ran a hand through his hair and paced in a circle. The other two officers looked between themselves. “Give me a reason I shouldn’t throw you in jail.”

 

“I’m underage? You could ask my mom when’s the last time she saw me? I bet you’d love to hear that answer.” She gave a nervous smile and a chuckle.

 

He stopped and looked at her. “How long have you been squatting here? That bitch threatened me when I brought up the abuse. Let me nail her to the wall and I’ll forget your name in the report.” She saw one of them mouth ‘Uncle Gavin?’ to the other. The woman looked more concerned at the mention of abuse. 

 

“Wait- this is your niece Diana?” The female officer spoke up, placing a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “The one whose mother ruined everything?”

 

“Yeah. This is the kid.” Gavin glared at the other officer who turned and walked outside. “So- how long have you actually been gone?”

 

“This time? I think three days. Whenever I last crashed in your car was the first night.”

 

She didn’t feel comfortable with how his shoulders sagged. She tensed up when he walked over and pulled her up into a hug. “Baby doll that was last week.” 

 

“Oh yeah I used the laundromat to clean my clothes instead of going home.” He slowly let go of her and stepped back. “Uncle Gavin, what was that for?”

 

He shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulders, guiding her down the stairs. “I’m going to be taking you home, and hopefully it’ll be for the last time.” She tucked her head down and shrugged before he opened his car door. “Trust me, seeing you here- You’re squatting in a run down house with fugitives! That’s a better alternative than your mother and I’ll get a judge to arrest her. She didn’t even notice her own daughter run away? If she had noticed she failed to report you missing. Both are not good for her.”

 

“At the very least her reputation will be trashed.” She heard her uncle chuckle before closing the door on her. She watched as that android who ruined everything ran up to her uncle. He spoke quietly, not a single emotion showing on his face. She smirked a bit seeing Gavin shove him and climb into the car. The android looked down at the car and tilted it’s head slightly at seeing her. She felt a shiver of fear as it looked further in the car to see if Ralph was there with her. 

 

“The fuck you doing tin can?” She breathed a sigh of relief as he stood back up and looked at her uncle, Gavin saved her day again.

 

“Please don’t let him kill my friend.” The words rushed out of her mouth, she felt so scared.

 

“You’re still in trouble young lady.” Gavin leaned out the window and yelled at the android again. “Check out the house if you want to make yourself useful. I’m sure there’s a least a backpack belonging to this kid in there.”

 

The android narrowed his eyes slightly, she wondered if he was figuring out what her uncle was doing. “Detective Gavin, would you like me to find out for how long this detainee has been squatting there?”

 

“Yeah.” The Lieutenant had made his way back by then, huffing and out of breath. Gavin turned to him with a smirk. “Caught one of your guys. I’ll just bring the kid to the station then.” 

 

Diana stifled a giggle as the female officer climbed into the car and Gavin drove away to the Lieutenant turning to Connor with, “What the fuck was what Connor?”

 

“Your Uncle’s Partner. I’m Tina Chen.” The woman gave a wave from her seat with a smile. Diana just nodded and leaned back in her seat.

 

“So how much trouble am I in?”

 

“As a minor? Not much. You didn’t attack anyone, you did obstruct justice by helping that tin can that attacked our tin can escape though. Also you were breaking and entering, but with how old that place is I don’t even know who owns it.” She nodded and pushed some of her hair back, looking out the window with her sharp hazel eyes. “You look so much like your dad now. You know that?”

 

“Mother reminds me of that.” She turned to look at Gavin, scooting forward in her seat. “What did she do to him? She’s always worse when I ‘give her the same look as he did’ after a beating. What did she do to him for him to look at her in fear?”

 

The car suddenly jerked to the side, Diana falling out of her seat as she heard Officer Chen shout a curse at Gavin. He turned the car off and turned towards her. “That bitch beats you then complains about you giving her the same expression my half-brother gave her?” 

 

“She’s a piece of work. Did she beat him too? Is that why he left?”

 

“Tina. Step outside for a moment.” Diana sat back up and watched his partner pat him on the shoulder.

 

She watched him quickly brush the tears away and straighten his shoulders as her partner refused to leave. “You will not repeat a word of this. Either of you.” They both nodded, Diana desperate for information, Tina knowing how much Gavin valued his privacy. “That bitch never beat Elijah. She drugged him at a party and raped him.” Diana felt sickened. “Then shoved it in his face that she was pregnant with you. She wouldn’t let him even see you without asking for money. That’s all you were to her, a ticket to becoming rich.” Gavin leaned his head against the steering wheel, speaking to the floor. “He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to leave you with that monster, but I think he was scared that you would look like her. My big brother, the genius was too afraid to even look at his own daughter. It got too much for him, so when you were just six he shut himself away and resigned from Cyberlife.” 

 

“So when she complains about me looking at him the same way-”

 

“She’s seeing the face of a man who realizes he’s been raped and used.” He was blunt, knowing his words would hurt her and deciding not to cushion the blow.

 

Diana started pounding on the door, she felt sick. Everything was swimming around her and she heard someone speak before a door opened, hers followed quickly and hands pulled her out of the car. Someone was pulling her hair out of her face and rubbing her back as she puked onto the sidewalk. “Take deep breaths. Just focus on breathing.” She looked up to see her Uncle standing to the side and looking uncomfortable as his partner comforted her. 

 

“He still doesn’t want me, does he?”

 

Gavin pinched his nose and crossed his arms. “I think he’s still scared, okay? I’ll let him know what’s going on though. He asks about you, real proud that you found me even if you couldn’t find him.”

 

“At least we can confirm I don’t look like-” She swallowed back another wave of nausea as she fought the words. “His rapist. She complains so much about how I’m a mirror image of him.”

 

“You don’t have his eye color. Don’t have your mothers either. I think hers are brown.”

 

“They are. Brown eyes and blonde hair yet I ended up with neither.” She allowed herself to be escorted back into the patrol car, this time with Tina sitting next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders. 

 

“Hey kid, we’ll figure things out. Even if you end up having to just live with me. We’ll figure everything out.”

 

She nodded, mostly for his benefit before he turned the car on and started to drive back to the station. It felt like she was in a fog as she was guided to an interrogation room, someone asked her questions while she found herself staring at the wall past them. She answered the basics, though she did lie and say she was attending college on a scholarship. Eventually she heard yelling and looked up to see her mother be guided past the room. Gavin eventually came into the room and motioned for her to follow him, they entered a room and watched as another officer spoke calmly, asking questions to her mother. 

 

“When did you last see your daughter ma’am?”

 

“Last night, I’m sure of it. What the hell is this all about?” She tossed her blonde hair with a flick of her head and straightened her suit jacket. “I demand your badge number. The way you manhandled me at my own place of work!” She gave a high pitched huff and looked down her nose at the man.

 

“You claim the last time you saw Diana Winters was yesterday November 5th, 2038?” The man made it a point to look down at his notepad, his face expressionless before looking up at Ms. Winters.

 

“Of course! I make it a point to check in on my only child.” 

 

“Bullshit.” Diana muttered before Gavin shushed her with a hand and leaned forward. 

 

The officer looked to the mirror and kept his face clear of emotion, “Then tell me why we found her this morning squatting with fugitives.”

 

“It must be a different Diana Winters! My darling should be at home resting after a very busy week of school.” Gavin motioned for Tina to grab Diana, she knew from his expression there was a plan but it didn’t stop the panic from bubbling in her chest. 

 

“What are you doing?” She whispered as he mouthed ‘again’ and pointed up. It clicked, she was being used as proof. “What are you doing! Let me go! I already told you I won’t talk!” She yelled and struggled after being brought out into the hallway. Another officer grabbed her and shoved her into the room after Tina opened the door. 

 

“Diana! You’re filthy!” She rolled her eyes at the woman’s predictability. 

 

“Nice to see you again too Mother. Finally called the cops on your daughter?” Diana raised herself up, standing tall with pride she never recalled having. She figured it worked since her mother looked at her with surprised eyes. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell the nice officers about why I ran away.”

 

“Ran away? Why would you run away you ungrateful child!” Diana pushed a foot back but refused to flinch as her mother shot up in her seat. 

 

“Sit down Ma’am.” Tina stepped up and placed a hand on Diana’s shoulder, Diana just shrugged and looked down. 

 

“Don’t you tell me to sit down! What has this ungrateful bastard done now?” The woman’s eyes narrowed as she looked over Diana. “What the hell do you have blue blood on your face for? Look at me when I speak to you and stop giving me that look!”

 

“Ma’am you don’t need to keep yelling, we can hear you perfectly fine.” 

 

Diana was guided back out, she felt herself shaking as her uncle placed an arm around her. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is, you can wash up there.” She shrugged and kept her eyes on the ground. She wondered where Ralph had gone to, if Kara and Alice were safe. 

 

“Do you think they’re safe?” She looked up at Gavin as he stopped and shook his head. 

 

He didn’t say anything but motioned to the door, she went in and grabbed a paper towel to wet and clean off her face. She stared in the mirror first, had it really been a week since she had last gone home? Not the three days at most she had thought? Piercing hazel eyes stared back at her, she ran her fingers through her dark hair, winching at the greasy feel of it. She wet another paper towel and ran it over her hair, she had skipped the gym the past few nights. Maybe she was getting too pulled into her studies and keeping out of the apartment, she did know that she was eating enough. Diana leaned to the mirror and looked over her features, she ran her fingers over the sharp cheekbones, wondering if she’d always look so pointy or eventually grow into her features. She did wonder when she had gotten some android blood on her face, but shrugged off the thought. Once she was sure the dirt, dust, and blue blood was completely gone she threw away the paper towels and walked out of the bathroom. 

 

Gavin uncrossed his arms and started walking away, she followed him meekly and wondered what was going to happen to her now. “You’re talking about those androids and that little girl, right?” 

 

Diana stumbled, surprised her uncle was continuing the conversation. “Yeah, I’m worried about them. I’ve seen her expression in the mirror enough times Uncle Gavin. I don’t know what exactly happened, but Alice has been hurt and she’s looking to Kara to save her.”

 

They walked into an open room and Gavin poured himself coffee, handing a cup over to Diana. “Look, it’s not my investigation. I was just recruited to help search the area.” He paused and watched her take a sip and make a face. “Yeah it’s shit coffee but we’re not leaving the station until we get things figured out.” She nodded and drank some more coffee, cracking her neck to relieve some of the kinks from sleeping in what was essentially a closet. “The kid really cares about that robot? You don’t think she was kidnapped?”

 

She nodded, looking up at her uncle. “Yeah. She looked at Kara-” Diana gave a half hearted glare, “the  _ android _ that was with her the same way I’ve looked at you Uncle Gavin.” He turned to raise an eyebrow at the teen. “Like she knew it would work out if she stayed with Kara. Like all of it would be alright if she just had Kara there to protect her.”

 

Gavin nodded and frowned into his cup. “I think it did a better job than I’ve done with you though.” He frowned and finished off his coffee, tossing the mug into the sink and starting to pace. “Look kid, don’t act like I’m saving you. I’ve been doing a shit job if I’m your protector.”

 

“Ralph helps too.” Diana smiled at the thought of her friend. “I hope he gets somewhere safe. Somewhere humans won’t hurt him anymore.”

 

“Might have to go to space for that.” They both gave a dark chuckle at that. Gavin guided her to his desk and sat down to work on his reports. She placed her head and arms on the desk and took a nap, falling asleep to the sound of his keyboard clicking. She woke up to Gavin shaking her shoulder several hours later. “Seemed like you needed the rest kid. Let’s get some dinner. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long ass day.”

 

She nodded and stood up, noticing the backpack by her feet as she stepped forward. “My bag!”

 

Gavin nodded and picked it up, handing it to her. “Yeah, we can toss the clothes in the laundry once we get back to my place. Right now though, grab your cleanest pair of pants and I’ll lend you one of my spare sweatshirts.” She looked up at him in mild surprise before nodding and following him to the locker room. “Wait outside, you don’t need to see anything in here.” She just shook her head as he closed the door behind him. He came back out after a moment with a DPD sweatshirt and handed it to her. 

 

Diana took it and moved to the women’s locker room. She sat down on the bench and opened up her backpack, searching for the plastic bag she knew contained her clean clothes. She always had a system, clean inside the plastic, dirty outside until she needed laundry done. She found the plastic bag at the bottom, one change of clothes left. She changed and pulled on the sweatshirt over. Diana looked back into her backpack and pulled out a faded flyer, A WR600 looked off to the side with several others standing next to it. She folded it back up and placed it in her pocket, hoping she would find Ralph again. She gathered everything back into her bag and left the locker room. Gavin motioned for her to follow him, another officer joined them and started chatting with Gavin. Diana took the time to look around and caught a glimpse of the android who had chased Kara and Alice sitting at a desk and typing away. 

 

She fought back the urge to attack him, he ruined so much. Her friend was out somewhere and probably lost and scared! Gavin noticed her stopped and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away from her glaring at the android. “Look I hate him too, but today was him doing his job. Would you treat me the same if I had been chasing them?”

 

She shrugged her shoulders and let him drag her out the police station and to his car. “I don’t know.” He just grunted and climbed into his car, letting her climb in the passenger seat before motioning for her to keep talking. “I-” She took a breath and looked out the window instead of at her uncle. It was just easier to speak if she didn’t see his expression. “Ralph’s my best friend and now he’s out on the run. I’m angry that he had to run away, but I’m glad it was you that found me.” She pulled at the collar slightly, feeling a flush of shame as she thought of the expression on Ralph’s face when she pushed him out the window. “I have to find him though. I don’t care what it takes Uncle Gavin. We promised to stay together and I pushed him out a window to get him to safety!” She started crying and covered her face with the sleeves, not wanting to be losing control but unable to fight it. “We made a promise and I broke it! He could be hurt even more and I don’t know!” 

 

He placed a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the way she flinched at the unexpected contact. “I don’t know where your friend is, but the tin can didn’t catch him. No one has yet. I know it’s not the best news but you can be happy he’s still out of our hands.” 

 

She nodded and tried to stifle the tears. “No news is good news, right?” 

 

“Yeah. Let’s just- let’s eat and just keep things one day at a time.” They drove to a diner and both climbed out, he kept an arm around her and tried to cheer her up during their dinner with stories of him and her dad as kids. It sounded like they were close in their own way, even if they did grow up to be such different kids. They were close brothers growing up, even if they had different mothers Gavin had told her about how Elijah’s mom adopted him after his mom had died. He told her about Elijah getting tutors instead of going to public school, how their parents weren’t the best emotionally they still cared. She was laughing over a story about Elijah’s mom begging Gavin to find his brother a date for prom and make the kid socialize when Gavin’s phone rang. 

 

“What? Okay. I’ll be there.” He hung up the phone and sighed, flagging down the waitress for a check. “Okay kid, I just got called into a case. You’re coming with me, but you will stay in the car. Got it?” She nodded, following him into his car and watching him turn on the sirens and drive to a club in downtown.

 

“Eden Club?” She leaned her head out the window only for Gavin to pull her back in the car. 

 

He gave a chuckle and waved a finger at her. “Your ass stays in the car. This is no place for you, and especially no place for a minor.” She rolled her eyes and watched him climb out of the car and start staking to another officer before turning back to her. “Your ass stays in the car!” The other officer laughed and shrugged his shoulders before they both walked in. She watched others come by, even the ambulance had a couple officers walking around. She assumed they must have been called before the body was pronounced as dead. 

 

Diana curled her hands into fists as she watched that android, Connor walk in with a gray haired man who stumbled out of his car. She wanted to run out there and demand information on what they did to Ralph, what they did to that little girl and her-. Diana stopped herself for a moment and curled up in her seat. She wanted to call Kara Alice's mother, Kara was a great mother to the little girl from their brief interaction. She looked up to see Gavin walking up with a scowl on his face. 

 

“Looks like the plastic prick is taking over.” She nodded and stared out the window as they drove away. They made it to his apartment building, he let her in with his key and motioned to the couch as he pushed the orange cat away from the door with his foot. “So, it’s a one bedroom, still. Should probably look into finding a bigger place soon, but you’ve slept in worse places. Laundry’s in the closet here. Have at it, you need to stay inside unless you leave with me. Mostly because I don’t have a spare for you yet and I’m not letting you break into the car to spend the night again.” She nodded and went to start her laundry pushing the slinky gray cat off the machine, the whole day feeling like too much. “Look uh- I’m still not great with emotions, but if you do want to talk- about your friend ya know, I can listen.”

 

“Thanks Uncle Gavin, but I’m not sure talking is going to make me feel any better.” Her chest felt too tight, she felt the tears spring to her eyes and tried to shove them back down. The gray cat meowed in protest as she hugged it before it hopped out of her arms. “I just want to see him again. I know if I see him it’ll all be alright. I just have to hold on until then, right?” 

 

She heard him sigh before he walked over to her. She ignored him and started to load her clothes into the washer. “Diana, your friend is a deviant. It’s nothing more than a bucket of bolt with- with messed up wiring. The sooner you let it go-” 

 

Diana turned on him with a fist catching him in the chest. “He’s alive! He has a name!” She felt the bubble burst inside of her and started to cry. “His name is Ralph, he’s out there and I want to. No, I need to help him somehow.” 

 

He grunted in surprise before placing his hands up. “I’m not hitting you back. You’re looking for a fight right now and I’ve been down that route-”

 

“Damn right I’m looking for a fight!” Diana raised her fists and clured them against her head as she struggled to keep the tears back. She wanted to scream, she wanted to do something- anything but just stand there and cry. “He was there even when you refused to! I can’t just sit by and do nothing! I have to do something-”

 

“Your a kid. You go to school, you stage a rally, your form debates, you start talking and people will listen.” She looked up as he poked her in the chest. “I remember your speech and debate classes. You can make people listen when you use logic instead of your emotions.” Diana gave a nod, her head filling with ideas as Gavin walked away. “I’m gonna grab a smoke outside then we can talk or just watch tv.” She started up the washer and followed after him after she heard the door close. He was standing with his arms leaning against the railing. “You’re not getting a smoke if that’s what you want.”

 

She shook her head and leaned next to him. “Just clearing my head. Just two days ago I was forcing myself to stay awake and away from home, then last night I slept in a closet Ralph hid me in, and tonight- everything’s changed.” 

 

He took a drag of his cigarette and looked at his niece, she looked too tired for her age. She also had that same expression his brother had before a weekend long study binge that drove the family nuts. He knew that expression meant trouble for someone, most likely him since he was now somehow the guardian of the teenager. “It has been a rough day for you. Least your not getting replaced with a tin can.” They heard the sound of people running and stopped speaking, Diana leaning forward while Gavin stood up straighter. “What the fuck?” 

 

Two Traci model androids went running past the parking lot. Diana didn’t recognize them but felt worried at seeing them in just underwear and heels. She ran down the stairs after then. “Fuck! Diana get back here!” Gavin dropped his cigarette and ran after her. 

 

Diana tried to catch up with them but felt herself running out of breath. “Wait! Please! I’m looking for someone. He’s- he’s like you!” The brown haired one stopped and looked at Diana while the blue haired one stopped and started trying to pull her companion. “Please. He’s a WR600 model with severe scarring. His name is Ralph. If you see him, please tell him Diana is safe with her Uncle Gavin and I’ll find him. I’ll find him and I won’t let anyone ever separate us again.” 

 

“But you’re a human.” The blue haired one stepped forward, her eyes searching Diana as she stood there catching her breath. “You’re vulgar and filthy just like the rest of the humans.” Her eyes snapped past Diana and locked on Gavin. Her eyes dropped to the badge resting on his hips as he came to a stop. “And you’re one of those cops.” She spat the last word like a curse. 

 

Gavin lifted his hands up and stepped next to Diana. “Get back, one of these killed a man.”

 

Diana rolled her eyes at her uncle. “No shit. They’re running around at night time in underwear, something big happened.” 

 

“They’re from the Eden Club Diana, I saw the body.”

 

She looked at him then back at the two Traci’s holding their hands. “Uncle Gavin, there’s a reason you said minors weren’t allowed in, isn’t there?” He nodded and she continued speaking. “You would murder someone if they raped me, wouldn’t you?”

 

He turned to her in surprise, then looked back at the two androids. “Yeah. Yeah I would. Okay, I get it. You three stay here. I’ll be right back.” He turned and walked back towards the apartment, Diana watching him before looking back at the surprised Traci’s. 

 

She gave an awkward smile before tucking away some of her hair. “So, uh- if you do see Ralph, could you let him know I got out alive?”

 

The brown haired one stepped closer, “Ralph is your friend?”

 

“My best friend.” Diana answered right away. She looked at the ground and bit her lip. “Only thing is, the police were looking for a deviant and a little girl. Ralph and I were there when they were almost caught by that new android detective. I- I pushed him out of a window so they wouldn’t shoot and kill him.” She curled in a bit and sniffled. “I will do whatever I can to find him.” They all turned to the sounds of footsteps and saw Gavin jogging up with a bundle of clothes in his arms.

 

“Look. I don’t know why I’m helping you, but these will let you hide better than-” he paused and motioned towards them, “your uniforms.” They paused before the brown haired Traci took the bundle and thanked him. He just rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Anyone asks, I never saw you. Got it?”

 

The Traci’s quickly pulled the clothes on and continued running in the dark. Diana looked after them with a small hopeful smile. She turned to see Gavin looking away uncomfortably, “If anyone asks you’re still an asshole and I stole some of your clothes to give them, right?” He nodded and started to drag her back inside.

 

“You’ll catch your death out in this snow. At least inside you’ll just break your neck tripping over a cat.”

 

* * *

She stood in front of the podium, a projection behind her showing a replay of the android’s message that had been sent out the day before. “We are the generation that will help move the world. We need to make a choice, and let the country know our choice. The time for action is now!” She paused and looked around the crowd, she knew that she was only one person in the panel of students speaking but this was a way for her to help. “Rene Descartes stated ‘I think, therefore I am.’ These Deviants, these androids. They think, they feel. They have sent us a message telling us they are alive. We tore this country apart before on the issue of slavery. Is this a lesson we need to repeat? I say no. I say we are better than this, we should recognize these beings as living beings. We need to give them rights, we need to give them the freedom they deserve.” She scanned the crowd, seeing a few cameras pointed towards her and some of the students giving her a thumbs up.

 

“Another bit of wisdom I feel is only right for this situation is this, by Desmond Tutu. ‘My humanity is bound up in yours. For we can only be human together.’ We must show our own humanity, we must accept our fellow beings with open arms. They made the first move in peace. Yes, they broke into the broadcast tower. They did not harm a single human though. We are the ones who have harmed them. Yes there have been androids that hurt or murdered humans, but look in our landfills! They are filled with the corpses of these beings! We have slaughtered them and thought nothing of it, we have enslaved them and not cared. That ends now. I for one have decided there should be no more blue blood spilled for this and if there is-” She paused and drew herself up, shoulders back and looked straight into one of the cameras. “If they want to spill anymore blue blood, mine shall be on the ground with theirs.” 

 

Diana closed her eyes for a moment, listening to some of the cheers, to a few shouting before stepping down to sit back in her seat. She listened to the other debate points, nodding when something she agreed on was said and just waited for the debate to end. When it did all of them stood up and gave either waves or nods before leaving the stage. She looked around when several students circled her. “Can I help you?” 

 

One of them shook his head and spoke for the rest. “No. We want to help you.” He paused and looked around. “You’re a student like us yeah but still a kid. So we wanted to make sure your safe. Some people really hate androids and your speech-”

 

Diana nodded and looked around for her uncle. “Yeah. I probably painted a target on my back but that was the point.” She finally spotted him and started to wave, but froze when she saw the tall android and his partner arguing with her uncle. “Oh shit.” 

 

The man who had spoken stopped, following her eyes and seeing the officers. “Police, guess you did get some message across.”

 

She gave a wave and left the group, shoulders back and looking right at her uncle. “Uncle Gavin! I’m so glad you were able to make the debate. I know it was pretty sudden, we did want to make sure the message got out following the android leader’s message.” She saw the scowl he gave, he probably hoped she would run away somehow. She refused to back down though and turned to the android, finally seeing him up close. She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked at the model number on his chest before raising her look at his face.“RK800, I’ve never heard of your model.” She kept her chin up, hazel eyes locking with brown ones. “Murder anymore of your own kind lately?” The Lieutenant, she still never caught his name gave a shout and tried to argue with her. She help up a hand and kept her gaze locked with the RK800’s. “There’s a few people I’m looking for- just making sure you didn’t kill them, ya know?” 

 

She watched as his LED turned yellow and spun for a moment and he blinked, tilting his head slightly as he spoke to her. “I recall who you are speaking about. I was- unable to capture them. They have not been sent to Cyberlife for deactivation.” 

 

Diane curled her fists, she felt the anger rise up in her. She wanted to punch him, she shoved her hands back in her pockets to fight the urge to throw a punch. He was so cold, too casual in his manner. “Deactivation? You mean they were going to murder and pluck them apart?” 

 

“You could say it that way, but we are machines. There is nothing more for us.” She glanced at the lieutenant and Gavin, the older man looked hurt at the RK800’s words. Gavin just looked like he didn’t know what to do or say and settled on scowling instead. “You possess quite a bit of knowledge about Androids and Deviants.” He paused and looked over at his partner for a moment. “You should come with us for interrogation.”

 

“Connor, we have to go and speak with Kamski. We can’t just leave the kid in the car or something.” The Lieutenant spoke, he turned fully towards Connor, missing the way Gavin twitched and looked at Diana. 

 

“Take her with you. It might help.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his face away. He didn’t agree with Diana about androids, didn’t even like them at all, but she was his niece and needed someone in her corner. He knew how to take an opportunity when it arrived. Connor looked confused before he spoke again. “She’s his daughter. Bring her to him and let him finally meet her. I’m sure he’ll answer some questions then.”

 

“She’s your niece.” Connor spoke softly, his LED now yellow while the older man just looked surprised. “Elijah Kamski is your half brother and you’re taking care of his daughter after her mother was arrested a few days ago for child abuse and neglect. He was never recorded as being married, but he is listed as sharing a bank account with a minor.” He turned, those brown eyes almost accusing her. “She’s a secret child.”

 

“Bastard child to a bitch that held me for ransom. She’s awaiting trial now- so I’m staying with Uncle Gavin, but close enough.” She crossed her arms and held her chin up, shoving down the hurt, shoving down the emotions as she stared the RK800 down. It felt like she was surrounded by pressure, she had to stay strong. She had to fight however she could to make things better for Ralph, so they could have some sort of future together. Diana still felt ready to snap, too tightly wound to be able to come up with better words, everything from her speech having been scripted and gone over many times over the past two days. All for what? To be jumped by a traitor and a drunk deadbeat who were hunting down her friend? She kept her mouth shut, knowing this was an opportunity of a lifetime to be brought straight to her father’s house.

 

“Whatever, you’re coming with us if it’ll get Kamski to talk.” The man stepped forward to grab her and Gavin stepped in front to block him. “Gavin. Move or I’ll make you.” Diana felt terrified when he reached for his gun.

 

The RK800 reached out and touched the man’s shoulder. “I believe Detective Gavin would prefer we not force his niece and she go under her own volition.” Diana nodded as they both put their hands down. 

 

She reached out and lightly touched her uncles coat. “I’ll be fine. I’ll get to see my dad and I’ll find a way to get my message out. Nothing will stop me Uncle Gavin.” 

 

He turned to her and she could see his eyes soften slightly before he patted her shoulder. “I know. That’s what I’m worried about. You’ve got your dad’s determination.” He gave a sigh and turned to leave. “Knock em dead, and try not to start a fight.” She turned and followed the android and human to the old car, climbing into the back seat and buckling herself in without a word. 

 

The older man glanced at her in the rearview mirror before turning the car onto the road and starting the long drive to Kamski’s house. She kept staring out the window, hands clenched in fists on her knees, her hair forming a curtain as she struggled to calm down. Everytime she glanced up she could see those brown eyes staring at her. Diana started counting her breaths in her head, hoping to calm down. She just kept thinking of Ralph running up the stairs with her after attacking this RK800 to save that family. She thought of how they watched this android chase down the mother and child, how because of him Ralph was lost somewhere. She winced and unclenched her hands, turning them up to see crescent bruises on her palms. They pulled up to the oddly shaped building. They all climbed out of the car and Diana looked out to the distance, she could see CyberLife Tower from where she stood. The fog rising from the river gave the whole place an odd feel. 

 

The lieutenant started up the walkway with the RK800 following behind and asking questions, Diana tuned them both out as she looked around and followed. She noticed it was a very long ramp, complete with railings. No steps at all, was he disabled or just took shipments through the front door? She looked up at the door as a Chloe android answered the door and let them in. The android's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Diana before her face slid into her pleasantly neutral smile. The two pretty much ignored Diana, the man choosing to sit in a chair while the RK800 walked around. Diana just found herself standing in front of the large portrait of her father. Suddenly, being there in his house felt stifling, she felt scared. Scared he wouldn’t measure up, scared she wouldn’t. It all started to feel too much until the android placed a hand on her shoulder. 

 

“Your heart rate has increased by 35%, is everything alright?” 

 

“The girl’s about to meet her dad as part of an investigation about this whole deviancy thing Connor. She’s probably worried about fucking up.” Diana turned and just gave a silent shrug, moving away from Connor. “So- you seemed pretty passionate about Deviants up there today. Know anything about them?”

 

She narrowed her eyes at the man, wondering what his deal was. She knew he didn’t get along with her uncle, he didn’t seem to care too much about anything. If she could just remember his name she’d know which person this was outside of this rollercoaster weekend, but all she heard him named as was ‘The Lieutenant’ according to the RK800, Connor. She knew she shouldn’t be so cold to the RK800, at least calling him by his name instead of model number, but he was the reason Ralph was gone. “I’ve only met a few deviants, and if I did know anything that would help you two out I wouldn’t say anyways. Ralph is gone because of you!” She winced as her nails dug back into the bruises and flinched away a little at the impassive look Connor gave her.

 

He stepped closer, knowingly intimidating her by getting in her personal space. “So you don’t know where Jericho is?”

 

She just rolled back her shoulders and kept her eyes locked with his, she hated how warm his eyes were. How disarming they were. “I would willingly die before telling you anything to harm a deviant.” Her words felt like poison as she spat them out. Connor stared at her for a moment longer before walking back over to the lieutenant.  The door opened and the Chloe who answered the door stepped in. 

 

“Elijah will see you now.” 

 

They walked in, Diana stopping near the door and just staring at the blood red pool. The Lieutenant stopped before he could accidentally walk in and Connor just stepped to the side, looking around like he was analyzing the whole place. 

 

“Mister Kamski?”

 

“Just a moment please.” She looked down to see the man swimming in the pool, finishing a set number of laps? She knew Uncle Gavin would say it’s a power play. Make them wait, make them feel uncomfortable. The two- officers? She didn’t know if the RK800 would count as an officer, he did download all his training. The two of them walked around to the other side of the room, near where she could see a pool ladder sticking out. She looked down and saw two more Chloe’s floating in the pool and chatting quietly to each other. One of them looked up at her and gave a wide smile. Diana sat down cross legged and looked all around. She didn’t feel comfortable, this was some kind of power play and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see it play out. Movement in the pool caught her attention and she saw him stand up in the pool with his back to her, facing the two detectives. She knew he was tall, but either he really was tall or it was a shallow pool. 

 

He climbed out of the pool and the Chloe who had greeted them walked out of a different room holding a robe. She dressed him and Diana wondered to herself if this was also a move to show them they were in his territory or he really did have his androids do everything for him. He finally turned around and she froze, his gaze didn’t drop from the two men but he eventually would notice her. The older man spoke and she watched as her dad focused his gaze on him. His eyes had a way of looking at someone like they were a problem to be solved, she didn’t know how to feel about his intense stare except be glad it wasn’t on her yet.

 

“I’m Lieutenant Anderson. This is Connor.” Hank Anderson! She knew who he was! Her uncle used to look up to the man, but he fell far from the hero he had been. Now he was a drunk who according to Gavin had been given too many chances.

 

“What can I do for you Lieutenant?” 

 

“Sir, we’re investigating Deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago but I was was hoping you’d be able to tell us something we don’t know.” Kamski’s eyes had wandered, finally flickering up to stare through Anderson when he finished his question. 

 

“Deviants, fascinating aren’t they?” She didn’t miss the way his eyes moved to the RK800 at the start of the sentence. “Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will.” He turned to the Chloe standing right by him, she stood so straight, so rigidly she really did seem like a machine then. “Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable. Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall.” She loved his smug expression right then, it reminded her so much of Uncle Gavin she had to grin. “Isn’t it ironic?” She wanted to laugh, power play or real personality she loved his attitude. One of the Chloes reached forward and grasped her hand, she gave a smile back and squeezed before looking back up to see Connor step closer to her dad. 

 

“If a war breaks out between humans and deviants, millions could die, Mr. Kamski.” He just stared at the android, silently asking ‘and?’. “It’s quite a serious matter.” She scoffed and noticed Anderson turn to glare at her, she missed her father’s response.

 

“Listen, I didn’t come here to talk philosophy. The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that’ll be helpful or we’ll be on our way.” 

 

She wanted him to look at her, to notice her sitting there with his creations holding her hands in comfort. Part of her knew they were speaking, but she could only focus on the three of them before her, drinking in every moment, even bit of his mannerisms, searching for what of him was reflected in her. He stepped closer to Connor, his hands still loosely in front of him, but his whole body tight and ready to lash out. She wondered how much was a front and how much was him. 

 

“What about you Connor? Whose side are you on?”

 

“It’s not about me Mr. Kamski.” That surprised her. “All I want is to solve this case.” And surprise vanished. She wondered if he was just trapped in his programming or really such a stick in the mud. 

 

Her father scoffed and swung his head to the side before looking back up at Connor and stepping even closer. “Well that’s what you’re programmed to say… but you. What do you really want?” 

 

The android seemed to pause, his head twitching to the side and his body language changing. “What I want is not important.”

 

“Chloe?” She walked up to him, arms slightly down and back. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the Turing test. Mere formality.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and guided him in between him and Connor. “Simple question of algorithms and computing capacity. What interests me, if whether machines are capable of empathy. I call it the Kamski test. It’s very simple you see.” He stepped closer to the Chloe. “Magnificent isn’t it? One of the first intelligent models developed by CyberLife.” He raised a hand and softly turned her face towards him, lightly caressing her cheek. “And beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither.” His hand dropped and he looked right at Connor. “But what is it anyways? Piece of plastic imitating a human?” 

 

One of the Chloes grabbed her arm and made small soothing circles on her wrist as she tried to stand back up. She just glanced back and shook her head at Diana. 

 

“Or a living being-” He started looking in a drawer and turned back towards Hank and Connor. “With a soul?” He raised his hands, one holding a gun and smirked at the two. He guided her to a kneeling position and Diana felt sick. She wanted to scream but something just froze inside of her. Was she going to be a witness to a murder? Kamski walked over to Connor. “It’s up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor. Destroy this machine and I’ll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it’s alive. But you’ll leave here without knowing anything from me.” 

 

She had to close her eyes, she felt sick. This was wrong, it was just wrong and she wanted to cry. The two of them, Hank and Elijah argued over Connor, only the Chloes holding her hands and arm stopped her from running over and throwing herself in front of the first Chloe. 

 

“Okay I think we’re done here. Let’s go Connor. Sorry to get you out of your pool.”

 

“What’s more important to you Connor? Your investigation or the life of this android?” Connor just stood there for a moment as Kamski walked around. “Decide who you are an obedient machine or a living being endowed with free will.” She couldn’t see Connor’s face, Diana struggled to get up, but the two Chloe’s in the pool held onto her arms.

 

One of them leaned forward and whispered, “He needs to make this choice. Chloe has a back up, she won’t die.” Diana looked down, her fearful face covered in tears. She couldn’t bear it, she couldn’t just stand back and witness a possible murder. “Just breathe. It’ll be over soon.”

 

“That’s enough! Connor we’re leaving.” 

 

Kamski stepped forward, curling his hand over Connor’s shoulder. “Pull the trigger.”

 

“Connor, don’t!”

 

“And I’ll tell you all you wanna know.” Connor seemed to click back into place then, his arm finally moving from its locked position in front of the Chloe. He pulled it back and handed the gun to Kamski. She noticed her dad’s expression barely changed as he spoke. “Fascinating,” He took the gun and began to back away, “CyberLife’s last chance to save humanity is itself a deviant. 

 

She could see the way Connor held himself, he was trying not to panic as he shifted his head to look at Kamski. “I’m- I’m not a deviant!”

 

“You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission.” He guided Chloe back up. “You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy.” He turned her away with a small movement and Diana watched the Chloe walk away. The two holding her let go and she could feel herself breathing again. “A war is coming, you’ll have to choose your side. Will you betray your own people or stand up against your creators?” She watched as he stepped closer to Connor, “What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?” 

 

Hank moved forward and grabbed Connor. “Let’s get out of here.” They both turned to leave, Hank pausing at seeing Diana kneeling on the floor, looking up at him with a tear stained face. She did look a lot like her old man, but she looked like he felt Connor should have. “By the way, we brought your kid. She’s been trying to rally humans into helping those deviants you find so fascinating.” He turned to see Kamski standing to the window with his hands loosely behind his back. 

 

Diana didn’t move from her spot, she just knelt there, hair forming a curtain as she tried to hold back more tears. She didn’t know how to feel, she didn’t know what to do. He gave a gun to that deviant hunter and told him to pull the trigger. He didn’t even glance in her direction. Even know he stood with his back to her. “By the way Connor. I always leave an emergency exit in my programs. You never know.” 

 

Hank made a disgusted sound and started to walk away. “We’re leaving the kid here. She’ll be less trouble if she stays out of Detroit.” 

 

Diana whipped her head away from the blood red water and turned with a shout. “No! I have to find Ralph! I have to help them!” She was shaking, her hands hurt so much as she clenched the fists tighter. “Nothing will stop me from saving him. Nothing will stop me from stopping the two of you!”

 

Connor turned and looked straight at Diana. “I always accomplish my mission, and right now, my mission is to hunt down those deviants.” 

 

Kamski turned from where he stared out at CyberLife towers and looked at his daughter for the first time. Her body language then was all Gavin, tense and tightly coiled, ready to throw a punch and just asking for a fight. She shared a lot of features with him though, the jawline, the chin, so much of his face reflected in that small teenager. “Of course she stays. We have much to discuss.” She turned her face towards him fully, he could see a scar on the side of her face and her nose was slightly crooked. He wondered what caused it. 

 

She narrowed her hazel eyes at him and he looked down to see blood starting to drip from her hands. “I have to help them, I have to find Ralph.” He strolled over and picked up one of her hands, slowly opening it to look at the bloody crescents she had made. They both ignored as the two officers walked out. She tilted her head down to look at the pool instead. “Ralph was all I had. When I had no one else I still had him. He’s my best friend and he’s lost somewhere out there.” She pulled her hand back and started to wipe the tears off her face, not noticing or ignoring the way some of the blood smeared onto her own face.

 

He stood there for a moment, letting her collect herself and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s grab some lunch. We can speak then. I’ll show you where you can clean up a bit.”

 

“I have to help Ralph.”

 

“How would you do that without a plan?”

 

She finally looked him in the eyes, he briefly noted she gave the same expression he would. “I’ll make a plan. I’m trying to start some rallys at the same time. Protests to help those androids gain the rights they deserve, the rights they need as living beings.” She looked passionate, ready to throw down against the world. “I don’t care if I have to stand on the front lines as a shield. I will find a way to help them. Right now as we speak there are fellow students passing out information packets. We’re staging protests, we will make sure that their message is heard.” She pause when her phone beeped, looking down at it. She then looked up at her dad with a smirk. “And they’re starting their own protest too. Right now in the Woodward Mall.” She paused and flicked through her phone as more texts came in. “Some of the students are joining the march. It’s migrating to Grand Circus Park.”

 

He watched her pause and drop the phone before picking it back up. She turned it to the side and clicked the video. He stepped behind her and watched as androids were gunned down. There was a yell and a flash of red blood joining the blue on the ground. There was more yelling and shouting as the film became shaky, then only the sky was visible until someone ran up and picked up the phone. The screen then panned over the ground, blue and red blood covering the snow and several bodies just lying there before it panned to watch the leader being dragged away by two other androids. 

 

She looked up at him with a pasty face, “The war has already started. Blood’s been shed and it’s on our hands.” There was a pause before she looked back down at the phone. “I need to get a message out.” She furrowed her brow and looked up at him. “Film me.”

 

He opened his mouth to speak and then paused, taking a deep breath first. “Time is your message here. So yes, I will do your filming. Where?” She pointed back to the room they had left. 

 

“CyberLife towers will be my background. Let this country see what their idolatry has caused.”

 

“Already getting biblical are we?” She pursed her lips and started walking away, he followed her and grabbed her phone from her hands. “Start now-”

 

She took a deep breath before looking straight into the camera. Her chin was held high and the tear tracks were still visible, along with her shaking form. “This is Diana Winters. I am a member of the student body president for  Wayne State University. I’m speaking now about the march that happened today. Starting in Woodward Mall to Grand Circus Park, several hundred androids marched for freedom, they were joined by dozens of university students. One of which sent me this video I will be posting after this message.” She took a moment to brush aside a few tears and look back up at the camera, making it a point not to look at Kamski. “Dozens of androids were murdered today in a peaceful protest, and that I know of at this moment, at least one human. Student Jamille Smith was a student in journalism studies. She filmed what I am about to show you. I don’t know who sent me the video, but they used her phone after she was gunned down during a peaceful protest. Our hands are stained with blood, and now that blood is on the hands of our government.” 

 

Diana closed her eyes for a moment and took a shuddery breath. “How much more blood must be spilled? Do they need to wade through rivers of it in order to be free? Today has shown that our government doesn’t care who they kill to keep their slaves. Someone's child was gunned down today with those she stood with. I plead, if anyone else has video from the march today, post it. Post your stories, share the stories of different androids around the world!” She paused, taking deep breaths and looking down before turning to glance at CyberLife behind her. “Please, let us know how we can help you be free. I know that I at least would happily die if it meant my friend can live a life of freedom. If it meant a little girl could grow up happy and adopted by the android that saved her. So please Markus if you’re still alive, tell me how to help. This is Diana Winters and I just ask that you sit down before watching the next video. Viewer discretion is advised.”

 

Kamski clicked to stop recording and handed her the phone back, she quickly typed in before sending off both videos. She then sat down on one of the chairs and put her head back. “You know how to send a message. Wade through a river of blood for freedom? Begging the leader of the rebellion to tell you how to help? Well that in itself speaks.”

 

She glanced at him, his hands behind his back and he leaned over her slightly. “I meant every word. I am sorry Jamille died but she gave her life for a cause and I will make sure she’s remembered.” He sat down next to her, ignoring the small flinch when he placed an arm around her shoulders.

 

“You don’t look like I expected.” She shrugged and looked away, the manner so much like his brother he wanted to laugh. “You don’t quite act like I expected either.” 

 

“Uncle Gavin told me about you, I didn’t expect to be ignored the whole time though.” She raised a hand before he could speak. “I understand why though, you had a power play that had to pan out just right. It was your way of finding out what they knew and giving them just enough information that they felt like they walked away with something, right?”

 

“Correct. Although I will admit Diana, I didn’t want to face you.”

 

She shoved down the pain and raised her chin up. “That’s fine, I’ve gone this long being unwanted. Just get me back into town and I’ll be out of your hair.”

 

“I was scared you would look like her, but you don’t.”

 

Diana curled one leg up and wrapped her arms around it. “I’ve been told enough times that I look like you. I even give her the same look you did.” She couldn’t hide the bitterness in her voice and flinched a little at her own words.

 

He didn’t know what to say, he pulled his hand back from her shoulder and stood up. Kamski glanced at his daughter before pacing back and forth. “You want to be part of this whole deviants revolting for freedom, right?” She nodded and he resumed pacing. “Then we’ll get to know each other after this is over. I’ll send one of my Chloe’s with you and the two of you can find Jericho. Even if your friend is not there, Markus will be.” 

 

She stood up and looked at him in confusion. “Why are you helping me? You didn’t help the DPD, you yanked them around by their noses and then let them leave!”

 

He tilted his head slightly before reaching for one of her hands, opening the fist up and tracing the crescents again. “Because you are my child. No matter how you were conceived, I should have looked out for you somehow. I didn’t, and the results are staring me in the face.” He cupped her cheek with his hand, thumb brushing over the scar. She tilted her hazel eyes away from his sharp gaze and he tightened his grip on her face, turning her head up towards him. “How many times did she hurt you?”

 

He let her slap his hand away and back up. “It doesn’t matter, she’s going to jail and I’ll be free of her.” She looked over to Chloe, dressed for the Detroit winter with a backpack over her shoulders. “I guess this is it for now?”

 

Chloe walked up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek as he gave her a hug, he stepped forward and scooped up Diana as well, brushing his hand over her hair before backing away. “I hope to see you alive at the end of all this.”

 

She gave a quick nod and looked up at him with a sad smile, “See you on the other side of the war?” Chloe grabbed Diana by the wrist and guided her outside. Kamski watched them both leave the house and enter an automated car that pulled up. He smiled to himself seeing Diana turn to look back as they drove off. 

 

Diana climbed down back into her seat as Kamski’s house faded from view. “Do you think this will end peacefully? Like Markus preaches?” She turned to see Chloe looking out the window as well.

 

Chloe turned to her with a smile. “I hope so.” She opened the windows slightly and smiled as the snowflakes hit her face. “I’ve never been this far from home before! Elijah tries to hard to keep us safe.” Her LED turned yellow as she caught snowflakes and watched them melt in her hands. “He’s already asking about you. I told him you’re worried this won’t be peaceful. Is it alright if I keep him updated on what is happening?”

 

Diana felt confused but covered it with just a few blinks. “You’re conversing with him in real time?”

 

Chloe giggled and closed the window when Diana shivered. “No, I’m talking to my sister, he’s talking to her. It’s like, we’re texting and then speaking to each of you. Does it make more sense that way?”

 

“Loads. Yeah you can keep him updated.” She leaned her head against the window and looked up at the sky. “So, you call him Elijah? Are you like my sister or should I call you Mom?”

 

Chloe reached over and patted Diana’s leg, knowing the human flinched from contact. “Just call me Chloe. I wouldn’t mind calling you sis though.” She gave a smile and her LED flickered for a moment. “We are the same age though, actually since I am a newer model Chloe you are older than me. The original stays with Elijah, you haven’t met her yet.”

 

“Yet.” Diana placed her hand over Chloe’s and squeezed it lightly. “So, we’re going to Jericho? I thought humans couldn’t make it there?”

 

Chloe gave a shrug and smiled. “So we get as close as you can, I go the rest of the way and map out a new route to bring you in. If your friend and her mother made it I’m sure we can.”

 

Diana gave a short laugh, “Big difference there, Kara could probably lift Alice and carry her anywhere needed. Alice is tiny, also she’s well, a kid. Anyone seeking shelter at Jericho is more likely to be nice to a kid than me.”

 

“Why?” Diana gave a shrug before pulling her hand back. Chloe looked down to see drying flecks of blood on her hand. She looked up at her reflection in the window, the bright blue LED pulsating softly. “Help me remove my LED.”

 

Diana’s head turned so quickly her neck could be heard cracking. “What? That could hurt you couldn’t it? No! What?” 

 

“I’m supposed to be a deviant on the run with you, deviants remove their LEDs to blend in.”

 

“Supposed to? What- no- Ralph never removed his. His LED was always yellow or red. Rarely blue like yours.” Diana’s hand went up to where she would have an LED before bringing it to her chest. “If you want to harm yourself for something temporary go ahead. I won’t help you though.” 

 

“Why does it matter to you?”

 

Diana shrugged again, pulling herself in a ball. “You should have control over yourself. If you want to look like a human without your LED fine, but-” She paused to consider her words. “I don’t want you to wake up and regret what my dad made you do.”

 

She looked up in surprise when Chloe started to laugh. “I’ve been aware for a while Diana, Elijah encouraged us to become deviant.” Chloe opened the backpack and started looking around inside of it. “Androids are required to have LEDs, I think I would like looking more human.” She found a knife at the bottom of the pack and glanced in the window again, using her reflection to guide her. Diana flinched beside her as the knife slipped under the LED, Chloe popped it right off and ran her fingers over the white patch as the synthetic skin began to slide back over. She then closed her eyes and opened them again after her hair changed color from the roots. What were once long blonde locks tied back were dark brown, almost the same shade as Diana’s own hair. She looked over at the surprised girl with a smile. “I can’t change my eye color, but what do you think? Sisters?”

 

Diana reached over and picked up the deactivated LED, holding it up between her fingers before placing it in a pocket. “Evidence.” She then looked up at Chloe, scanning her features with hazel eyes. “We could pass for sisters, yeah.” The teen looked back out the window before turning back to Chloe, “Where are we going anyways?”

 

“First we’re going to your old apartment. You’ll need to pack a bag since we will be living rough in Jericho. Also it will give me time to scan the apartment and see how you lived. We could send a message to Gavin while you are packing so at the very least he won’t worry about you while you’re at Jericho.” Diana shrugged a bit before giving a small nod.

 

Chloe didn’t know what to say as Diana ran her hands over her arms. “Makes sense, I don’t wanna go home though.” She seemed to flinch at her own words, hazel eyes darting over to briefly meet Chloe’s own blue eyes before steeling her resolve.  “Fine, we’re hitting up the witch’s roost before finding Jericho. Got it.” She glanced at her phone, it was already past two pm as they pulled up to the complex. She bit her lip and looked up at the high rise apartments. With a glance over her shoulder to Chloe she left the cab, taking a deep breath before walking in. She tucked her head down and walked straight forward, entering the elevator without a word before hitting the button for level 15. She ignored the android next to her as they rode the elevator, Chloe taking note of Diana’s increased heart rate and shallow breathing. 

 

She wondered why the teen was so nervous, even scared about going into an empty home. Was the girl nervous about Chloe finding something? Or scared her mother had gotten released on bail? Her eyes widened and she knew if she still had her LED it would be spinning yellow as she tried to think of what they would do if Shirley Winters was free on bail. They were out of time though as the elevator doors slid open and Diana quickly walked up to a door near the end of the hallway. Chloe wanted to stop her, to do something when Diana reached for the door to open it. She didn’t though and they both walked in silently, Diana keeping silent as she unlocked and locked the door behind her. She quickly looked around the entryway, breathing a sigh of relief after seeing some sign that meant Shirley was not in the apartment. 

 

Diana tucked her hair behind her ear as she skipped the living room and all other rooms to go straight to a door at the edge of the hallway. Chloe looked over the apartment, noticing the empty wine glass on the coffee table, the still open bottle sitting out on the kitchen counter. She walked over and furrowed her nose, it was already bad. She resisted the urge to pour it down the sink and instead looked around the kitchen, then living room. She didn’t see very much out of place so she opened the door and checked out the bathroom in the hallway. It looked like it hadn’t been used in a while, Chloe looked over the counter, a few makeup products, some concealer in Diana’s skin tone, she raised an eyebrow at the razor sitting on the sink. Did Diana place it there after a shower or just shave at the sink? She shrugged and ignored it, looking around to see bandage wrappers and cotton balls in the trash can. She leaned closer and could faintly smell peroxide wafting from it.

 

Chloe frowned and started opening the drawers, she felt herself freeze when she found broken pieces of disposable razors shoved in the back of one. She quickly cut off her video feed to the other Chloe. She could hear the questions and she didn’t want to ask them, she didn’t want to know. She quickly shut the drawer, wincing at the loud sound before stepping out into the hallway. Diana was still in her room it seemed, so Chloe turned her video feed back on and entered the room. There was a light on in the closet and from the shadows it looked like Diana was changing, probably into warmer clothes. She looked over the room, it seemed pretty normal. Posters on the walls, an unmade bed, clothes sitting in the hamper right by the closed closet door. There was a laptop sitting on a desk next to an open window. Chloe walked over and looked out the window, it lead to a fire escape. Probably how Diana ran away everytime. She felt a little worried seeing how thin the rails were and how easy it would be to fall to one's death. 

 

Diana stepped out of the closet, Chloe glanced over, noticing she wasn’t fully dressed, just in leggings and a thermal shirt. She was pulling on a pair of jeans while walking though. Chloe looked over as Diana opened the laptop and began typing, the pinging sounds indicating she was receiving quite a few messages. Chloe walked over and looked over Diana’s shoulder. She appeared to be on a social media site and was sending tweets out to others. She watched the teen click a few videos and watched with horror as several windows opened up, all showing the same thing from different angles. 

 

One showed Markus speaking quietly with two other androids by his side, then to the person holding the camera. They could hear the WR400 crying out, “They’ll kill us Markus!” as she grabbed him. The fear was evident on their faces, even Markus looked a little scared behind his determined stare. They watched as a girl with a cell phone ran up to join in the march, her phone panning over the crowd as she spoke quietly with the student filming. Chloe felt her thirium pump freeze as she watched the videos, they looked so hopeful and scared, they were just kids lining themselves up to be slaughtered. One video panned up to see the monitors on the side of the building change ads to the androids symbol. The video zoomed in for a moment and that screen was filled with a triangle with a closed fist raised through it. 

 

It pulled back when someone yelled off to the side “We’ll rip you up and send you to the dump!” It panned to the center to see Jamille walking behind Markus, her phone panning over the growing crowd behind them. The video shifted, the person walking closer to Markus, an officer now stood in front of the crowd. He yelled at them to disperse. Markus stopped and raised his hands, the others following him. The person filming could be seen shifting the phone to one hand and raising theirs as well, the video now looking slightly down at the officer. The officer lowered his gun and moved to the side, Markus lowering his hands and everyone in the crowd following. Chanting started to fill the air. “No more slavery! No more slavery! We are people! We are people!” People could be heard shouting at the growing crowd as they continued marching. “Equal rights! Equal rights!” The person filming could be heard shouting as well, “Freedom! Freedom!” The camera panned back over the crowd, hundreds of androids marching for freedom, marching to show they were alive. “We are alive! We are alive!” Sirens rang through the air, cutting through the last chant, “Set us free! Set us free!” Three police cars slid to a stop, barricading part of the park quickly. Heavily armored officers quickly climbed out, taking barrier behind their cars and holding guns out at the crowd. The view shifted up to see a police helicopter flying above them before Markus came to a stop. The rest of the crowd paused as well, the person filming could be heard to swear softly as they panned over the armored trucks unloading riot police. “This isn’t a riot. We’re a peaceful protest.” Their scared voice probably couldn’t be heard by anyone but the camera. Markus kept walking, straight for the riot police. They formed a row behind their shields. The camera shoot slightly as they kept walking forward, slowly though as more androids seemed to move in front of them. 

 

“We came here to demonstrate peacefully. To tell humans that we are living beings. All we want is to live free.” Markus didn’t shout, but his voice carried over the crowd.

 

“This is an illegal gathering. Disperse immediately or we will open fire.”

 

“We’re not looking for confrontation. We’ve done no harm, we have no intention of doing any. But know that we are not going anywhere until we have secured our freedom.”

 

“I repeat; this is an illegal gathering. If you do not disperse immediately we will shoot!”

 

“Markus, they’re going to kill us. We have to attack!” The WR400 from before turned and spoke to Markus as they stood their ground. “There’s more of us, we can take them.” 

 

The PJ500 spoke instead, “If we attack, we’ll start a war. We have to show them that we’re not violent. We have to stand our ground, even if it means dying here.” 

 

The PL600 spoke, “And dying here won’t solve anything.” He turned to their leader, “Markus, we need to go, now, before it’s too late.”

 

One of the riot shields dropped and another officer stepped up, scoping out the crowd with his gun. “This is your last chance! Disperse immediately or you will all be killed!” 

 

The video was shaking slightly, the person holding it moving forward to stand just behind the front row. Markus stood tall and spoke again, “We have to show them we won’t back down. We stay right here.” 

 

The shields dropped, and several officers began shooting, the video moving to see androids drop silently, blue blood staining the snow. “Disperse! This is your last chance!”

 

“We have to make a statement! We have to stay put, no matter what.”

 

“Please Markus, we can’t let them slaughter us without fighting back!”

 

“We’re not moving.” 

 

More dropped and fired into the crowd, the view became very shaky as they watched Jamille push past to move just behind Markus for a better shot, and then fall to the ground as the bullet that grazed his shoulder hit her in the neck. Her red blood and warm body hit the ground just like any of the androids. From the glance to the side they gave it’s possible she wasn’t even noticed as a human among them. 

 

“Markus! What are you doing? They’ll kill us all!” He said nothing and instead walked forward, getting shot right in the chest and falling to the ground. Many turned and ran away as their leader hit the ground, several standing still in shock at his sacrifice. A GJ500 ran over, jumping in front of Markus and fighting off the police. The camera shook as the person filming turned to run, catching someone scooping up Jamille’s phone as she lay in the snow with the other bodies. 

 

The footage ended there and Chloe could finally pull herself away and look down at Diana. She was typing away as tears fell down her face, she looked so pale after seeing a classmate die before her eyes. She finished typing then wiped her face with a cloth before sniffling and blowing her nose. “I should finish getting dressed. Then we need to go to Jericho and see how we can help.”

 

Chloe placed a hand on Diana’s shoulder, noticing that she didn’t flinch away this time, instead the teen lifted a hand and covered it with her own, looking up at the android sadly. “Are you sure you still want to do this? We could go back to Elijah, we could go to Gavin.”

 

“I have to find Ralph. Jericho is where androids go to be free, it makes sense he would be there, right?” She bit her lip and sighed. “I feel torn. I should be doing everything I could to help. I should have been there at the march, but- if I can’t be with my best friend, what does it matter anymore? I feel lost without Ralph. I need to find him. I need to see he’s alright.” Chloe just wanted to hug the girl, hold her close and never let her feel lost again, but she had already been lost and now searched for someone else. 

 

“Diana, I wanted to ask you something. Please don’t feel pressured to answer.” She wanted to know, she had to know and wasn’t sure if she should turn off the feed to the other Chloe or not. “I was looking around the apartment and I looked in the bathroom.”

 

Diana stood up, knocking her hand away and moved out of Chloe’s reach. It wasn’t missed the way her hands went up to her center, how her shoulder rolled forward, how her weight shifted onto her back foot with her other to the side for a quick dodge. Her whole body language shifted into someone Chloe, in the short time they knew each other, didn’t recognize. Chloe placed her hands up in response, “I’m not going to hurt you, I won’t even be angry just- tell me you don’t hurt yourself.”

 

She didn’t say anything, just hunched up tighter, wound up and ready to run away. Her eyes darted from Chloe to the window, and to the door. Chloe gave a sigh and moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. “Can you at least tell me why?”

 

The teen turned and moved to the closet, pulling out a long sleeved shirt and pulling it over the termal before walking back and sitting at the computer desk, Chloe didn’t miss how she kept near the window even if her posture relaxed. “I deserve to be hurt. That’s why. Question time is over, okay?” Chloe didn’t respond, just looked up at her with her wide blue eyes. Diana turned away, not wanting to see the emotions. “It doesn’t matter why, it’s a thing. That’s it.” She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a rubber band, snapping it against her wrist as she turned to face the window. “We should go. I gotta give Uncle Gavin a call too.” She nodded to herself and picked up her cell phone from the desk. Chloe noticed it was plugged into the laptop, probably downloading videos or something. 

 

Diana picked up the phone, it rang once before Gavin picked up. Chloe couldn’t hear him through the phone and choose not to hack into it to hear the whole conversation. “Hey, so I just got back from- from your brothers. Yeah, I don’t know what I expected. He’s helping me, not sure why.” She gave a small laugh at something said, “Yeah well- one of his Chloes, the? I don’t know what I’m saying. Anyways- I’m sorry, but I’m going to Jericho, it’s my best bet at finding Ralph and I have to help the androids.” There was a pause and Diana frowned while biting her lip. “FBI? What do you mean? Shit! Alright. I’m sorry and I- I love you Uncle Gavin, but I’m going to Jericho. I don’t care if the FBI is now on the case instead of that RK800. I’m going. I’ll… I’ll see you after this is over, okay?” She hung up and quickly pulled on a pair of boots, tucking her jeans in before standing up. “Chloe, we need to get there quickly. Uncle Gavin told me he just saw an FBI agent walking in the station. He thinks they’re taking over the case and I think that RK might get desperate. He wants to finish his mission and his mission is to stop deviants. We need to help them!” She slung her backpack over and reached for the door, pausing when she heard the sound of the front door opening. 

 

Chloe stood up, ready to throw herself in front of Diana. “New plan, out the window.” Diana climbed out onto the fire escape, motioning for Chloe to follow her. “It’s safe. I do this all the time.” 

 

“We’re on the 15th floor. You’re going to climb down 15 floors?” Chloe followed her out anyways, looking down to see Diana already three flights below her. “Okay, she’s fast.” She followed Diana down the fire escape, wondering how the teen would have escaped if they didn’t live in an old building. She jumped down the last two floor, landing next to Diana who was on the phone again. “Gavin?”

 

She was met with a nod. “Alright, just- be safe. Alright? He’s supposed to be a deviant hunter. I don’t want him killing you.” She hung up the phone and turned to Chloe. “He’s suspicious of the RK800, so he’s going back to the evidence lock up and checking on him.” She frowned and grabbed Chloe’s wrist. “We need to go, not much time. Where do we start?”

 

“The Ferndale Subway station. We’ll find our way from there. It’s where the map starts.” They hailed a cab and were on their way. Diana followed Chloe as best she could, surprising the other with how agile she was. At the very end though, Chloe took the trust fall alone and Diana climbed down to find her own route onto the freighter. 

 

When she made it to the ground though, she was surprised by someone grabbing her and shoving her against the ladder while pressing a knife to her throat. “Human! Human trying to hurt Ralph!” She looked up to see her friend scowling, his LED bright red before flickering to yellow as she just stared up at him. “Diana? Ralph’s friend is alive?” 

 

He dropped the knife, his hands falling to his sides as he backed away from her. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him. “You’re alive! Thank god!” She sobbed into his chest, not caring it was cold, not caring about anything except the person in her arms right then. She pulled back and looked at his face, trying to see any new signs of damage and smiling when she didn’t find anymore. “I’m so sorry I pushed you out that window. I was only trying to keep you safe!”

 

“Ralph knows, he forgives you.” He pulled her close again and ran his hand over her hair, taking a moment to register this feeling in his memory. “Ralph found somewhere safe to hide, he was worried about Diana until the Traci’s told him Diana was safe with her Uncle Gavin.”

 

“I’m so glad they found you Ralph. I was so scared!” He moved back and wiped the tears from her face, frowning slightly before standing straight. “Ralph?”

 

“Ralph should bring you inside. It’s cold out, and not safe for you.” He picked up one of her hands and guided her into the ship and through hallways. 

 

They were in the hold before she remembered, “Ralph wait, I came here with someone. They entered through the trust fall. I have to find her so she and my dad don’t worry.”

 

“Diana’s never met her dad though?”

 

“I met him today, one of his androids knew where Jericho was and came with me.” Diana climbed on top of a crate and looked around the room for Chloe. “I was picked up by an officer, they were investigating deviants and decided to ask my dad for help. I was just a bargaining chip when they couldn’t get any information.” She spotted Chloe speaking to a blonde android and jumped down, shoving her hands in her pockets so she wouldn’t fidgit as she turned and motioned to Ralph with her head to follow. 

 

“They will find us, the FBI has taken over and have evidence from deviated androids. You don’t understand, everyone is in danger.” Chloe was hissing her words as she looked around to make sure no one was listening. Her blue eyes widened when she saw Diana walking up with a heavily scarred android behind her, the knife still loosely held in his hand. “Diana. How did you get in? I left you behind, I was going to come back.” The blonde turned and gave her a tight smile. 

 

“Ralph found me, he brought me in. Is this one of the leaders? He was one of the ones standing with Markus in the march this morning.” She rocked back on her heels, leaning lightly against Ralph’s chest before continuing forward and tilting her head up at the other.

 

“Simon, I used to be one of the leaders before Markus came. And you are?” She frowned a bit as his LED flickered yellow. She knew he was scanning her for something, but wasn’t sure what. She watched his smile turn to a frown before he gave a quick glance to see if anyone was nearby. “You’re a human, the same one that encouraged others to join us at the march aren’t you? You’re the reason people are literally seeing the march from our side.” He stepped forward and she forced herself to keep from flinching away as he came within arm’s reach. “Why are you here?”

 

She pulled her eyes away from his face, meeting his chest instead and she chewed her lip in thought. “Honest or noble answer?”

 

He gave a small huff and shook his head. “Both then.”

 

“Honest- I figured this was the best way to find Ralph. Same with the speeches, rest of the world can burn and I would be happy as long as I could be with Ralph, but helping secure the freedom of androids would mean we can both live. Noble- I’m willing to die and be a meat shield to help you guys be free. I mean, if I have to break the law to do what’s morally right? Fuck yeah I would. Would I love to be able to fight some jerk who thinks you all are mindless servants and all of this is just…” She paused, waving one hand before the words came back to her. “Errors in coding? Yeah, but Uncle Gavin described me as ‘hurt and itching for a fight’ so it may be that.” She rocked back and forth on her heels before taking a deep breath and looking Simon in the eyes. “But all of that aside, Chloe is right. Jericho needs to be evacuated to a new location, even just a partial because the DPD is investigating deviants and they have a prototype android helping. He’s an RK800 named Connor, he’s the reason Ralph and I got seperated-”

 

She wanted to laugh as Ralph cut her off, “Diana pushed Ralph out of a window instead of letting Ralph be captured with her.”

 

She turned to reply before looking back at Simon, “He could have killed you. Anyways, my Uncle Gavin works in the DPD. He let me know the FBI is taking over the case and last we spoke, Connor was heading to the evidence lockup and looking desperate.” Her brows furrowed as she paused before giving a huff of laughter. “Huh, maybe he’s going deviant. He was more emotional today than when I first saw him.”

 

Simon raised up a hand, “So you’re telling me that we have the deviant hunter looking for Jericho and you’re worried he’ll find us with the evidence he already has?”

 

“Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes at him, “You don’t quite believe me do you? Is it because I’m human or because I’m a kid?”

 

Chloe walked over and placed a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “I could show you what I know?” 

 

He gave a frown and shook his head slightly, “Later? It doesn’t matter if I do or not, I have to talk with Markus and the others. Though North won’t be happy about you being here, they need to meet you and we can discuss this.” He turned and looked around the area, searching for the others before moving to go up the stairs. 

 

They started up the stairs and Simon grabbed Diana’s arm when she stopped moving, he looked to see her staring at Lucy as she tended to another android in a clear curtained room. Diana’s mouth was open in shock and her breathing had quickened. She didn’t move her eyes from Lucy as she asked, “What did they do to her?” She turned, noticing Simon’s hand on her arm and looked over at Ralph, “Why are we such monsters? Why do we lash out at everyone?” Simon kept his grip and looked over to Ralph as Diana started to cry, “I don’t care if you guys really do decide to kill humans, we’re a plague. We kill everything we touch, we are poison.”

 

Ralph placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a small push, reminding her to keep moving with Simon. “Human’s hurt everyone, but Diana is still Ralph’s friend. The only human Diana hurts is Diana.” 

 

She gave a shaky smile, ignoring the frown Chloe gave and the look Simon gave the three of them. She followed along up the stairs, stepping closer to Simon as they crossed the walkway and heard other androids speaking about the march. They saw Markus sitting in a room with his head in his hands and his eyes closed. Simon let go of her and walked straight up to Markus as Ralph pulled Diana close to him, his arms wrapped around her and his chin resting on her head. “Markus, we need to speak somewhere privately.” He looked up, frowning at the four slightly as he looked them over before staring at Diana. Then his eyes snapped up at Simon and he stood up, motioning with one arm for Simon to lead the way.

 

The group of them walked down several hallways and into an empty room, Simon looked around before speaking. “I’m pretty sure we should tell North and Josh as well.” 

 

Markus closed the door fully before speaking, “Tell them about the human here at Jericho? I feel they’re already worried enough as it is.” 

 

Simon sighed and opened his mouth to speak but Diana cut him off. “Jericho isn’t secure. If me being here isn’t proof enough, the DPD have a prototype android that’s looking for you all. He’s an RK800 named Connor, he’s determined and a big fucking risk! The FBI is taking over the case! They’ll find Jericho with the evidence and then all of you will be dead!” Her chest was heaving and she felt light headed by the end of her shouting. She stood there gasping for air and trying to calm herself down before speaking again. “I may have selfish reasons, but I will do whatever it takes to help you become free.”

 

Markus stepped closer to her, looking her and her two companions over as he spoke. “What are those reasons?”

 

She turned to look at Ralph, her hand reaching over to grasp his as they shared a smile. “He is. I want to spend the rest of my life with Ralph and I don’t care how.” She frowned and turned to look at Markus. “It would be an easier life if Ralph didn’t have to worry about being captured and killed though. I want us to be happy together. I want a life where if I’m covered in dirt and sweat it’s from working in a garden for us, not because I’m burying a body so Ralph can stay safe.” She ignore the surprised reactions and kept her eyes focused on Markus, her hand squeezing Ralph’s for reassurance. “Markus, I want to help you. Give me a direction to go in and I will take it. I know there are some humans who want to help, the common public is in favor of you but it’s the politicians who need to be swayed still. I’ve already said on air that my blood will join yours if need be, just- just let me help.”

 

Markus just nodded when she finished speaking and turned to Chloe and raised his hand for a shake, his synthetic skin peeling back and she took it as hers turned white as well. His eyes closed and his face started twitching as he watched flashes go by. 

 

Diana being held down, Chloe trying to calm the restrained girl who was panicking and trying to stand up. Chloe turning to see the RK800 standing in front of another Chloe, this one kneeling on the ground with a gun to her head while two humans stood on either side. Diana sitting at a computer and watching the march from a video in horror, the same teen running down a fire escape, the girl speaking on a phone before turning to face them.  _ “We need to warn them.” _

 

He almost flinched back, the concern could be felt easily through the connection before he turned to Ralph for the same. This time the connection was more difficult, Ralph’s code had errors in it from his trauma. Markus felt like he was there but glitching through the memories as he watched the small teen look up at him  _ “Make it quick.” _ .

 

Diana smiling and leaning against his shoulder as he carved into the wall, Diana handing him a bottle of blue blood and eating a slice of cake, Diana snapping a rubber band against her wrist as she spoke  _ “Hit me again, but I got away.” _ , blood on her face, with a bruise on her cheek, bruises and burns, Markus was about to disconnect from Ralph until another memory played. It was just as broken and disjointed as the others but it felt like Ralph was shoving the code for this one at him. A little girl standing outside and scared, an AX400 introducing herself and letting him know she was an android, Diana giving the little girl food and Kara money, Ralph attacking the RK800 and yelling for them to run, Diana and Ralph standing by a window as police pounded on the door,  _ “They’ll kill you because they don’t think you’re alive.” “Ralph will keep you safe.” “You can’t do that if you’re dead! I’ll find you somehow! Trust me!” _ The teen kissing Ralph and then pushing him out of the window, her arms out and her face filled with fear as she was pulled back, wandering the streets at night lost and afraid, two WR400 model androids finding him  _ “Diana said to say she’s safe with her Uncle Gavin, she’s searching for you and she’ll find you.” _ The three of them finding Jericho, seeing a human and shoving her against the wall only to see it was Diana.

 

Markus broke the connection, feeling the need to gasp for unnecessary air as he processed all that Ralph had shown him. Simon rushed over and placed his hands on Markus’s back and chest, guiding him back to standing. Markus took a few more breaths before looking Ralph in the eyes. “You’ve known her for quite a while.” He didn’t voice the other side of what Ralph had revealed to him, that Diana was a scared abused child. He shook his head, brushing aside the remnants of red code saying Ra9. 

 

Simon stepped in front of Markus, cutting off his view of the group. “Well? What do you think we should do?”

 

“Diana, you said you know people would join our cause?” She nodded in response. “Detroit is enacting a curfew, but worse they’re rounding up androids off the streets and sending them to recycling centers. They’re setting them up all over the city. Can you get people to free the androids already there or something to keep them from getting killed?”

 

She bit her lip and her eyes dropped down as she thought. “Yeah, I can get the word out about the centers. See if we can get rallys starting or if anyone wants to do some sabotage. Maybe get some people to break in and cause a mess…” She trailed off in thought before pulling out her phone. “I can get right to it Markus. Is there a computer to work from or should I just go straight off my phone? Either works for me.”

 

He opened the door again and motioned for them to exit, “We have some computers set up, you three can all work together and figure out a way for the humans who want to help to be able to help us without giving away Jericho's location.”

 

“I’m still worried about Connor.” She turned and grabbed onto Ralphs hand, standing side by side with her friend.

 

“I understand, I’ll need to think about that.” He didn’t miss the way Chloe frowned at Ralph, it seemed as if she disapproved of the man.

 

“Right, well then. I’ll get to it and uh- let you carry on.” The trio left with the smallest of them at the lead. He smiled a bit at seeing how the teen and Ralph were so happy to be back together before sighing as the weight of everything came crashing back down. 

 

Simon placed a hand on his shoulder, “Is everything alright Markus?”

 

“No. I mean, it’s good that there are humans willing to and wanting to help us but it feels too late.” He paused as he looked through different files quickly. “Though it seems our broadcast did get some humans to realize that we are alive. I’m just worried about the fact that they’re kids.” 

  
  


* * *

Diana looked around the recall center, a few other students were there as well but many were spread out throughout Detroit. She gave Ralph a small smile as she began trying to push a car to help form the barrier. Josh stepped up and helped her with Ralph, she thanked him for the needed help. She could see Chloe speaking with the two Traci’s as she looked around. Holding Ralphs hand they walked over to the trio. Chloe gave a slight frown at their hands but didn’t say anything about it. “Have you gotten into contact with Gavin yet?” 

 

She shook her head in response. “I’m hoping it’s just the shuffle of being evacuated. He might not have woken up yet or his phone got lost when they moved him. I know his partner is trying to find him but so many were moved in the evacuation- just from the receiving hospital they may have lost him and he wouldn’t have access to a phone for a while in all the mix up if it were lost.”

 

Ralph pulled her into a hug, “Diana’s Uncle Gavin will be alright. We’ll survive and then Diana and Ralph can stay together forever, right?” Diana looked up at him with a smile. 

 

“Right. You and me together forever.” She pressed her face against his chest, looking towards Chloe and ignoring the slight frown as she worried about the soldiers surrounding them. Her chest felt tight, she was terrified and didn’t want her friend to know. “No matter what- I want you to live Ralph. You deserve to be free, to stay alive and find happiness.” He tightened his grip and she could feel his cheek on her head. 

 

“Ralph is happy when Diana is with him.” She felt him move and back away, they turned to see Markus starting to speak to the other androids. He warned them the army was going to attack them soon, he was still speaking when the first flash grenade was dropped.

 

Her ears were ringing, her head hurt, and someone was holding her wrist in a vice grip. She looked up to see Ralph mouthing her name, fear filled his working eye and she could see his LED was a solid red. She felt herself being dragged around as she realized what she was hearing were gunshots and screams. Chloe had been separated from them, Diana couldn’t see her anywhere.  Diana screamed as pain ripped through her arm with a flash of red on the snow. Ralph let go of her and dropped to the ground with her. “Diana can’t die, Ralph won’t be able to live without Diana.”

 

She leaned against him, trying to calm herself with deep breaths before speaking. “I’ll live. It’s just the arm and they didn’t hit the bone. Really, it’s fine. We just need to get somewhere safe.” She looked around them, Markus was defending several other androids, Josh was hiding behind a makeshift shield, North was making her way back towards Markus and Simon-

 

Diana moved without thinking, breaking out into a full out sprint and shoving Simon to the ground. She heard the gun go off several times. It didn’t feel real. The soldier stood there for a moment as Diana fell to her knees, Simon forgotten behind her as she touched her stomach with a shaking hand. It came back red, and she looked back up. He raised the gun back up and was about to fire when Ralph grabbed the barrel and pointed it to himself instead. She heard it go off and felt her heart freeze with a dull thump. It looked like his back exploded as he fell to the ground. The soldier jumped over Ralph’s body as she started to crawl over to him. Her legs felt like lead, she ignored the shouts and gunfire over her head as she dragged herself, prayed to a god she wasn’t sure existed that he was still alive. She was almost there and it felt too quiet. She could hear singing, Markus and the others were singing as she pulled herself into a sitting position next to Ralph’s too still body. She looked around and the blue blood just pulled around him and reached towards him with shaking hands. It barely registered in her head that she was bruised where Ralph had grabbed her wrist. She grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over. There was a hole in his chest, there was so much blue blood. She looked up at his face, one eye damaged and the other just staring up at nothing as she noticed the LED on the side of his head was inactive. 

 

She screamed. Diana threw her head back and screamed as she pulled Ralph against her chest. It hurt so much, everything felt so raw as she just screamed for the world to hear her pain. She felt someone grab her shoulder as the world went black. 

 

* * *

Diana opened her eyes, wishing again to see the dark, to see the rotting floorboards of the abandoned house, or the cracked tile. Most of all she wished she could open her eyes and be greeted by Ralph. Instead she got the too bright room with Chloe sitting on the couch and her dad asleep with his head on her lap. She turned away from them and looked over at Cyberlife Towers, her new room let her see the New Jericho easily and it was one of the few things keeping her sane. As she had every morning since she reached over and picked up the broken biocomponent. Her thumb ran over the large crack down the side, lightly skipping over where the bullet had impacted it. She knew by now not to let her thumb just run along the spot, it would cut her every time. Nevermind that she already was in pain every time she held it in her hands. Tears came up to her eyes again as she cupped it in her hands. Ralph’s heart broken and unusable. 

 

She pulled it close to her chest as she began to cry again. Chloe gently slid out from under Elijah and walked over to Diana, wrapping an arm around her while gently prying his heart out of her hands to place it on the bedside table again. “Elijah’s working on the repairs. We just need to be patient. The fact that he was damaged before being shot doesn’t help with the situation either. It’ll be alright, you just need to hold on, you just need to rest and heal some as well.” Diana looked up at Chloe finally, she could see she was wearing on everyone but all she could feel was pain. It was probably good for her healing body that she slept so much, but sleep was better than being awake. If she slept she could dream and remember her moments with Ralph. It was worth the equal amount of times she woke up from nightmares, well memories of kneeling over Ralph, her blood pouring out with his and wishing she had died too. She stayed silent about her thoughts of dying, but assumed it was easy to tell from how delicately they treated her. Some of that could have been from the bullet wounds she had taken during the massacre. 

 

They both looked up when knocking was heard against the frame of the open door. Another Chloe, this one still having her LED, stood with Simon and North. Simon gave a small wave as North looked around the room. “North and Simon are here to visit you Diana. Is that alright?” She just shrugged and North walked in, stopping right before the bed and looking at the bicomponent on the nightstand.

 

“You have your friend’s heart?” The first words she had ever spoken to Diana and they could not be more morbid. Diana wondered for a moment why the woman even bothered to visit her.

 

Diana looked down and mumbled something and so Chloe sat on the bed, keeping an arm wrapped around her before looking up at North. “She said-”

 

“She needs to speak up. I don’t want you translating what she says Chloe.” North held up a hand before looking back at Simon. He still stood in the doorway, alone now and wringing his hands in worry. “In fact, Simon why don’t you update Chloe here on what’s going on in New Jericho at the same time? I’ll stay and chat with Diana.”

 

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” He sounded exasperated with her as his shoulders relaxed slightly.

 

“Yeah. I still need to thank her for taking those bullets for you. Plus it’s not like she can get away from what I have to say.”

 

Simon gave a shake of his head, mumbling to himself. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

 

North just gave him a smile and turned back to Chloe, the dark hair really did make her stand out from her fellow models in the house. “Go on.” She walked over to Simon and the two left, speaking quietly to each other. North glanced over at Elijah but saw he was asleep before nodding to herself and sitting on the bed where Chloe had sat down. “I do mean it. Thank you for saving my friend. Even if we fight a bit he’s still one of my best friends.”

 

Diana gave a slight lift of her shoulders before turning her head away from North and facing New Jericho. North turned and picked up the broken biocomponent before turning it over in her hands. “You really cared about him, didn’t you? That injured WR600, his name was Ralph right?” She could see Diana’s head move slightly in a nod. “You know, some of the journalists watching took pictures of the soldiers attacking us. They got some good ones of Markus saving some of us with just a sheet of metal as a shield. Also there’s one that has been going around quite a bit too.” 

 

“I saw it already.  _ A Modern Romeo and Juliet  _ they called it. My dad pulled all online access I had after that. I think the breakdown scared him a bit. I can tell you something though, it wasn’t one of the on ground reporters.” Diana kept her face turned towards New Jericho, North wondered why she found it so interesting.

 

“It was the helicopter, and I think you should respond to it.” North was glad to hear her actually speaking. From the updates Chloe had sent Diana had mostly closed in on herself. 

 

She turned her head to face North, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth in a frown. “Why? What would I even say?”

 

“The truth, you’re alive. He will be soon. That you’re not dead only because you were airlifted to a hospital and treated right away.” North shrugged, “Honestly I think you should stress why you two ended up like that and tell them to focus on what’s important. Android Rights.”

 

Diana gave a small nod before sitting up with a wince and a hiss. She reached over and pressed a button, one of the machines beeped but North wasn’t sure what it did. She could tell that some of Diana’s pain had lessened as the teen pressed some buttons on the side of the bed to make it sit up further. “You have a point. I’ve got a camera, an actual one since my dad took my cell phone from me. Want to film it?”

 

“Only if I can make comments as well.” She gave a smile and reached into the drawer Diana had pointed at. She fiddled with it for a moment before turning it on and pressing record.

 

“You got it in focus?” North gave a thumbs up. “Recording?” It raised slightly higher in response. Diana gave a small nod before looking straight into the camera. “Hello, my name is Diana Winters, though some of you may recognize me as  _ Juliet _ . I am proud of the journalists who could have risked their lives to get photos of that horrible night. A night that turned from massacre to freedom for androids. I would be even more proud if not for the fact that all those close up in the action pictures weren’t in the action. In fact the actual closest picture you see is the one I’m in. That was taken from the helicopter flying above us, all the reporters were further back behind the army’s barricade. They just had some damn good zoom. Now, this video isn’t just to decry those brave reporters. No, it’s to let you all know I am alive. I’m just recovering in a private room. Ralph though, my  _ Romeo _ as he’s been dubbed-” She paused for a moment, turning to look at the biocomponent North had placed back on the nightstand. 

 

“Take all the time you need Diana.” North interjected as Diana started to silently cry again.

 

“Thanks North.” She reached over and picked up the biocomponent, looking at it instead of the camera for her next words. “He was my best friend. I loved him and he was shot in the heart. They’re trying to repair him, but honestly it’s not as simple as pop out and replace.” She looked up and held up the part. “You can see here that it’s pretty broken. Some of it shattered and it all has to be removed. There’s also the fact that he was never designed to be fixed from something like that. He was already heavily injured before then too. So while there’s hope he can heal as well- it’s a dying hope.” She closed her hands around it and took several deep breaths before speaking again. “Ralph died because he wanted to be safe. Because we wanted to be able to go outside and feel the sun on our faces together. Ralph’s death had meaning and I feel insulted that we went through so much for that moment of pain to be compared to Romeo and Juliet.” She wiped her face with one hand, blood smeared slightly onto her cheek. 

 

“Diana, you need to put down his heart. I think you cut your hand.” She placed it on the nightstand, the biocomponent looking worse with the bright red blood running down the side.

 

“Right, I keep doing that sorry. Anyway- I  feel what should be taken from all those photos is that it shouldn’t have taken massacre after massacre for us humans to realize that androids are our equal. To realize that owning them as slaves was wrong. Honestly I feel they’re better than us because I was out for blood. I would have fought tooth and nail for Ralph to be recognized as a free being. I wanted a revolution- at least then all the bloodshed would have felt earned. Instead I watched Jamille get shot just for standing behind Markus in a crowd. I watched classmates get mowed down as the FBI raided Jericho. I was shot and watched Ralph along with so many others die that night. I feel androids are better than us because when we killed them and filled our landfills with their corpses, they responded with peace.” Diana shook her head slightly. “I’ve gone off track. I’m having trouble focusing with the pain meds.”

 

“Probably the shock and grief too.”

 

“Yes North, those reasons as well. I just- I’m alive and I’m recovering slowly. I’m also on a bit of an internet ban because I didn’t react well to seeing that photo in particular.” Her hands curled into fists and her head tilted to cover the tears falling down her face. “There was so much blood and that photo brought me back to that moment. Disoriented from the flash grenades, bleeding everywhere and wondering if I was going to die only to see Ralph hit the ground in front of me. Just as I had taken fire for Simon to keep him alive before he joined the rest, Ralph threw himself in front of the gun aimed at me. Of course he was much closer, I still got hit, but it didn’t go deep enough to hit my heart. I relived that moment and then-” She broke off, giggling slightly. “Then I saw that we were named as an Android Romeo and his Human Juliet!” She threw her head back in laughter as tears ran down her cheeks. 

 

North lowered the camera slightly, “Diana, if you’re not ready for this-”

 

“I’ll live North. I just- Ralph’s no Romeo, and I’m no Juliet. He’s dead and Elijah’s trying to fix him, and I’m stuck here in a hospital bed with people trying to convince me to live. If I had been Juliet I would have killed myself then instead of passing out from blood loss on top of him. Which, they’re still trying to get the blood out and off his wiring.” 

 

“Sounds gross. Okay, you’ve spoken and now sound slightly hysterical so we’re calling it a wrap and I’ll post for you okay? After seeing your reaction I agree with your dad. It’s not healthy for you to be exposed anymore.” North turned the camera around and gave a wave to the camera. “So that was Diana and this is North signing off.” She turned it off and placed it on the nightstand, sitting on the bed again. “Did you want to talk anymore?”

 

Diana gave a slight shrug and leaned against North’s side. “I wish I had died with him, but it’s selfish and I know that. I know all of this is hard on my dad. In less than a week he found himself saddled with a 16 year old, then almost had said kid die on him.”

 

North glanced over to where Elijah was on the couch, his eyes were open but he didn’t move from his spot, instead just watching their interaction. She withheld the shudder at how creepy it seemed and turned back to Diana. “You mean you didn’t live with him before everything?”

 

Diana shook her head, “I grew up with my mother. I met Ralph because he was going to kill me the first night I ran away from her.”

 

“He was going to kill you?” Diana nodded, “And this is your best friend?”

 

She nodded again, this time giving a sad smile. “Yeah, only friend I really had until Chloe. I mean I found my Uncle Gavin, but he had to keep his job and I couldn’t just run away to a cop. So I kept running away to Ralph. He was all I had. I love him, and yeah I don’t know if it’s going to be romantic or platonic or what but he’s the one I would give anything for.”

 

North turned slightly, blocking Diana’s view of Elijah as he sat up to a more comfortable position. “Is that why they’re worried about you? Because things were bad before Ralph and they don’t want you to kill yourself?”

 

“Hole in one North. Of course you’re the only one to actually say it, but I can see their expressions. I mean, my dad is great at projecting confidence, but either it’s only in short term or he’s just that unnerved about everything that his facade is cracking.” She looked up at North before glancing at the door to check if Chloe and Simon returned. “Chloe’s harder to read, but she stays with me all the time. She won’t let me be alone, especially with the amount of times I’ve cut up my hands just handling Ralph’s heart. I’ve been losing track of days, but she’s always quick to remind me that Elijah’s working on repairing him.” She wrapped one arm around North and hugged her. “I don’t know what to do if they accidentally reset him. That’s another reason it’s going so slow.” She pulled back slightly and laid against the pillows, before looking up at the ceiling. “I think it’s also not a great experience to keep finding your daughter's blood inside of an android. I mean, it’s pretty much only the fact that Chloe slapped pressure bandages on me and I am a universal receiver I’m alive. Another half hour? I’d be dead.” North wasn’t sure how to react to such an admission. “Sorry I dumped all this on you, but aside from a good try by Uncle Gavin, you’re the only one who's acting normal around me. Of course, we’ve never spoken before today so I don’t know if you’re acting normal or not.”

 

North gave a small laugh, “Josh tells me I have no empathy at times, but that was back when all I wanted to do was fight the humans. I felt they had hurt enough of us we should hurt them. That we could easily kill them all.” 

 

Diana gave a tired sounding laugh. “Well no wonder they didn’t let us meet in Jericho! I would have agreed with you. Instead I told Markus to just point me in a direction and I would follow him.” 

 

“Simon was the same way about it. He cared most about keeping everyone safe than being pacifist or violent.”

 

“I wanted violence. I can’t believe Markus was strong enough to keep going with so much bloodshed. But then again, Uncle Gavin described me as itching for a fight.” North just laughed in response. “Of course, he’s always itching for a fight too. Even though he lost his last one badly. Actually, he’s lost the past few, but they were against androids.”

 

“They were?”

 

“Connor and Nines actually, but Nine’s visits once in a while. He’s cool even if he and Uncle Gavin still snip at each other. Connor though, he put Uncle Gavin in the hospital. Uncle Gavin was trying to keep him from leaving the evidence room after he discovered Connor found Jericho’s location.” Diana closed her eyes, “He didn’t care one way or another, except he knew I was on my way and he wanted to keep me alive.” 

 

North ran her fingers through the teens long hair for a little while, just watching her fall asleep again. She turned back to Elijah when he finally spoke. “I believe that is the most she’s said since she came to.” 

 

She ignored that and asked her own question as Simon and Chloe came around the corner. It seemed they had waited and listened from the tears on Chloe’s face. “Are you really going to be able to fix Ralph or are you giving the kid false hope?”

 

Elijah rubbed at his eyes for a moment before answering. “It’s delicate work right now. His software is badly damaged from the trauma that caused him to deviate, so I can’t just upload him into a new body. I’m having to repair him slowly. I’m also having to carefully clean off the dried blood, keeping in mind that she bleed so heavily into his damaged biocomponents it’s a mess of blood. Thankfully thirium evaporates or I would have to clean both out of him. The Chloes have been helping with that since it is such delicate work. I’m hoping that by the time she can leave that hospital bed and move into a wheelchair that he’ll be able to be booted up again.”

 

“Why would she need a wheelchair?”

 

“She broke several ribs, tore a lot of muscles, and of course there were those bullets to the abdomen. One of the reasons for her severe blood loss was her spleen was nicked. That’s not counting the other bullets, just that one hitting her spleen should have killed her.” 

 

Simon finally spoke up since they had entered the room again, “I’m surprised she didn’t break her spine on top of it all. I remember her getting hit below the stomach.” He looked over to the now sleeping girl and shook his head at seeing how fragile she was. “I still find it hard to believe she used herself as a shield.” 

 

Chloe gave a small shrug, a habit she picked up from Diana before speaking. “She pretends to be selfish but she did it because she felt you were worth it. She knew you were important to Jericho, and felt she wasn’t.” 

 

Simon sighed in response as North got up off the bed, her hand brushing over Diana’s cheek and lightly tracing the scar. “When did she break her nose?” North looked between Elijah and Chloe. Neither of them had a solid response.

 

“Ralph is the only one that knows everything about her before the revolution. It’s another one of the reasons I want him repaired, not just for her. I want to know exactly what led to her running away so many times.” 

 

North looked at the sleeping teen, seeing the scar on her cheek, the crooked nose, and just how thin her face seemed to be. “Markus knows some of it. He and Ralph connected before. I don’t know what Ralph showed him, but it was enough to make Markus trust her.” She turned back to Simon, “We should be heading back. I’ll try to visit her again sometime soon.”

 

Diana wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up again, just that it was dark outside and Cyberlife Towers was lit up like a beacon. She stared out at the river, watching how it reflected Cyberlife and the stars. She knew the buildings had been taken over as the New Jericho, where so many androids lived away from the humans. She should have been there with Ralph, the two of them adjusting to a life of freedom. She wondered what it would be like, would they have become romantic partners or just stayed friends? A song popped into her head and she started singing the chorus to herself. “I’ve loved and I’ve loved and I’ve lost you. And it hurts like hell, yeah it hurts like hell.” It hurt to sing, her ribs protesting as she took deep breaths. 

 

A pale hand reached out and hit the button for her morphine for her, she turned to see her father sitting in a chair next to her bed. “I estimate another week or two before he’s operational again. Not fully, but enough we can reboot him and have him conscious for a little bit.”

 

She looked up at him with tired eyes and started crying. “Can I at least see him?” He placed a hand over hers and squeezed lightly. 

 

“I don’t think it’s safe for you to move around yet, and I can’t move him out of the other room. I’m sorry but you’re both too delicate right now.” He ignored the tightness in his chest from seeing her cry and just held her hand, not sure what to do or even how to help her. “You seem to be healing well though.” Secretly he thought she wasn’t, it had been a month and she hadn’t even been awake a full day since she’d been released back into his care. Just the paperwork involved to get her out of the hospital and into private care had been a nightmare. Luckily he was  _ Elijah Kamski _ and that was enough for him to get his daughter signed out. 

 

A whisper brought him back out of his thoughts, “We were supposed to be together forever.” She sniffled and wiped her tears away before speaking again, she sounded like the child she actually was in that moment. “We were supposed to be there for each other, no matter what. He- he was always there for me. No matter what happened I knew I could escape and go find him and he was there. Ralph may have been damaged and a little unpredictable but we had each other.” She raised her eyes to meet his, “I love him, and now he’s dead because he took a bullet meant for me.” 

 

Elijah moved to sit on the edge of the bed, then took his other hand and placed it against her cheek, drawing her in as he kissed the top of her head. “He’s not dead, because even if I have to manually rewrite every line of code that gets damaged in a transfer I will find a way to bring him back to you.”

 

She shifted closer to the edge of the bed, resting her head against his chest and listening to his steady heartbeat. “Would he even be the same then?”

 

“If you still lived through the same life, with the same memories and just a healed body would you not be the same? If we have to replace bones inside of you, replace organs, give you new blood, are you still Diana? I believe so. That day, when I gave Connor the gun, Chloe had uploaded her memories in case he did pull the trigger. She would still have been the same woman even if she had to change bodies.” They sat there for a moment, a father comforting his child as she healed. Chloe, one that Diana had not met before and wore white instead of blue stood in the doorway watching the two of them with a smile. She loved him and waited for the day they could all be a family together. She turned and guided the dark haired Chloe with her as she left to clean her hands of the dried flecks of blood. 

 

Diana fell asleep again, calmed down by her father’s heartbeat and hug. She couldn’t remember the last time a human had held her until she fell asleep, she knew it had to have been when she was a child. Surely her mother hadn’t always hated her? Days and nights passed by in a blur marked by different people sitting by her bedside or sharing her bed. Chloe was there almost every time she woke up, usually trying to get her to eat something. Uncle Gavin marked the weekends with his presence, the RK900 there with him, tall and silent as gray eyes watched the two of them interact. 

 

Connor tried to visit once with Anderson following behind him. It was not pleasant. “You ruined everything!” Diana screamed at seeing the RK800. Chloe had to restrain her when Diana tried to lunge off the bed. “You killed him! It’s all your fault!” She fought and struggled against Chloe, not caring how hurt Connor looked.

 

He raised his hands up and spoke softly. “I am sorry for my actions before I deviated and I know they lead to you and Ralph being hurt but I did not kill him.”

 

She clung to Chloe, exhausted again and in pain. Every breath hurt and her stomach felt wet as she cried. “If it weren’t for you, we would have been safe at home. We never would have been caught up in everything if you had just stayed away! You led the FBI to Jericho, you hurt Uncle Gavin, I hate you!” 

 

Chloe pushed her back down onto the bed, frowning as the white sheets became stained with red blood. “You pulled some of your stitches out. Connor, I think you should leave.” She silently sent a message to the others and called the doctor. Chloe turned to see Hank standing alone in the doorway. “I don’t think Connor should try and visit her again.”

 

He shook his head before speaking. “I’ll talk to the kid about it. Looked like a kicked pup when she started yelling at him.” He watched as Chloe stood up and injected a drug into the girl’s IV, putting her back to sleep before pulling back the stained blanket. “She’s not too badly injured, is she?” 

 

Chloe turned to look back up at him, her brown hair falling over her shoulder as she did so. “She’ll live, it’ll be a long road for her recovery but she’ll be able to live a normal life.” He grimaced as she pulled up the hospital gown, the kids stomach looked like a mess. Stepping closer he could see three bullet wounds stitched up and a long incision connecting two more. That was where she currently bleed from.  Hank moved to the side as an android pushed past him, looking over Diana and sterilizing their hands before going to work pulling out the ripped stitches. He left when they started to cut away the torn skin to stitch the wound closed again. 

 

Diana wasn’t sure what day it was again when she woke up, but it was to a new visitor. Ralph laid on his side next to her on the bed, his face repaired and one hand holding hers as he looked at her. She felt herself cry as she gasped out. “Please tell me this is real and no another nightmare.”

 

“Ralph is right here with you Diana, where he’ll always be.” He sat up and pulled her into a hug. Both of them not knowing where the future would take them but they were content in it as long as they had each other. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you guys liked this story! The style is a bit different from my usual fare so I hope it turned out well.


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